| DESTINY 
!0F  HAN 
I VIEWED 
I IN  THE 
LIGHT 
! OF  HIS 
I ORIGIN 
i Fiske 


i 


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THE  DESTINY  OF  MAN 
VIEWED  IN  THE  LIGHT 
OF  HIS  ORIGIN 

9 


By  JOHN  FISKE 


EIGHTEENTH  EDITION 


a/  % i?  A 5 

BOSTON 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
New  York:  11  East  Seventeenth  Street 
St) e ili&ersilie  Press,  ffiamfiriBge 


Copyright,  1884, 

Bv  JOHN  FISKE. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press , Cambridge , Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  & Company. 


Fi'i/JL 


To 

MY  CHILDREN, 

MAUD,  HAROLD,  CLARENCE,  RALPH, 
ETHEL,  and  HERBERT, 

KtyS  £S232 

IS  LOVINGLY  DEDICA  TED. 


4 <350  5' 


]AVING  been  invited  to  give  an  ad- 
dress before  the  Concord  School 
of  Philosophy  this  summer,  upon 
some  subject  relating  to  the  question 
of  immortality  there  under  discussion,  it 
seemed  a proper  occasion  for  putting  to- 
gether the  following  thoughts  on  the  ori- 
gin of  Man  and  his  place  in  the  universe. 
In  dealing  with  the  unknown,  it  is  well 
to  take  one’s  start  a long  way  within  the 
limits  of  the  known.  The  question  of  a 
future  life  is  generally  regarded  as  lying 
outside  the  range  of  legitimate  scientific 
discussion.  Yet  while  fully  admitting  this, 
one  does  not  necessarily  admit  that  the 
subject  is  one  with  regard  to  which  we 
are  forever  debarred  from  entertaining  an 
opinion.  Now  our  opinions  on  such  tran 


VI 


Preface. 

scendental  questions  must  necessarily  be 
affected  by  the  total  mass  of  our  opinions 
on  the  questions  which  lie  within  the 
scope  of  scientific  inquiry  ; and  from  this 
point  of  view  it  becomes  of  surpassing  in- 
terest to  trace  the  career  of  Humanity 
within  that  segment  of  the  universe  which 
is  accessible  to  us.  The  teachings  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  as  to  the  origin  and 
destiny  of  Man  have,  moreover,  a very 
great  speculative  and  practical  value  of 
their  own,  quite  apart  from  their  bearings 
upon  any  ultimate  questions.  The  body 
of  this  essay  is  accordingly  devoted  to 
setting  forth  these  teachings  in  what  I 
conceive  to  be  their  true  light ; while  their 
transcendental  implications  are  reserved 
for  the  sequel. 

As  the  essay  contains  an  epitome  of  my 
own  original  contributions  to  the  doctrine 
of  evolution,  I have  added  at  the  end  a 
short  list  of  references  to  other  works  of 
mine,  where  the  points  here  briefly  men- 
tioned are  more  fully  argued  and  illus- 


Preface.  vtt 

trated.  The  views  regarding  the  progress 
of  human  society,  and  the  elimination  of 
warfare,  are  set  forth  at  greater  length  in 
a little  book  now  in  the  press,  and  soon 
to  appear,  entitled  “ American  Political 
Ideas.” 

Petersham,  September  6,  1884. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  Man’s  Place  in  Nature  as  affected  by  the 


Copernican  Theory  . . . .11 

II.  As  affected  by  Darwinism  ...  18 

III.  On  the  Earth  there  will  never  be  a Higher 

Creature  than  Man  . . . .26 

IV.  The  Origin  of  Infancy  . . . 35 

V.  The  Dawning  of  Consciousness  . . 42 


VI.  Lengthening  of  Infancy  and  Concomitant 
Increase  of  Brain-Surface  . . . 

VII.  Change  in  the  Direction  of  the  Working 

of  Natural  Selection  . . . • 5S 

VIII.  Growing  Predominance  of  the  Psychical 

Life 62 

IX.  The  Origins  of  Society  and  of  Morality  , 66 

X.  Improvableness  of  Man  ...  7/ 

XI.  Universal  Warfare  of  Primeval  Men  . 77 

XII.  First  checked  by  the  Beginnings  of  Indus- 
trial Civilisation  . . . . .81 

XIII.  Methods  of  Political  Development,  and 

Elimination  of  Warfare  . . . 85 


X 


Contents. 


XIV.  End  of  the  Working  of  Natural  Selection 
upon  Man.  Throwing  off  the  Brute- 

Inheritance  96 

XV.  The  Message  of  Christianity . . . 104 

XVI.  The  Question  as  to  a Future  Life  . . 108 


THE  DESTINY  OF  MAN. 


I. 

Man’s  Place  in  Nature,  as  affected  by  the 
Copernican  Theory. 

HEN  we  study  the  Divine  Comedy 
of  Dante  — that  wonderful  book 
wherein  all  the  knowledge  and 
speculation,  all  the  sorrows  and  yearnings, 
of  the  far-off  Middle  Ages  are  enshrined  in 
the  glory  of  imperishable  verse  — we  are 
brought  face  to  face  with  a theory  of  the 
world  and  with  ways  of  reasoning  about 
the  facts  of  nature  which  seem  strange  to 
us  to-day,  but  from  the  influence  of  which 
we  are  not  yet,  and  doubtless  never  shall 
be,  wholly  freed.  A cosmology  grotesque 
•enough  in  the  light  of  later  knowledge,  yet 
wrought  out  no  less  carefully  than  the 


12 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

physical  theories  of  Lucretius,  is  employed 
in  the  service  of  a theology  cumbrous  in 
its  obsolete  details,  but  resting  upon  funda- 
mental truths  which  mankind  can  never 
safely  lose  sight  of.  In  the  view  of  Dante 
and  of  that  phase  of  human  culture  which 
found  in  him  its  clearest  and  sweetest 
voice,  this  earth,  the  fair  home  of  man, 
was  placed  in  the  centre  of  a universe 
wherein  all  things  were  ordained  for  his 
sole  behoof : the  sun  to  give  him  light  and 
warmth,  the  stars  in  their  courses  to  pre- 
side over  his  strangely  checkered  destinies, 
the  winds  to  blow,  the  floods  to  rise,  or  the 
fiend  of  pestilence  to  stalk  abroad  over  the 
land,  — all  for  the  blessing,  or  the  warning, 
or  the  chiding,  of  the  chief  among  God’s 
creatures,  Man.  Upon  some  such  concep- 
tion as  this,  indeed,  all  theology  would 
seem  naturally  to  rest.  Once  dethrone 
Humanity,  regard  it  as  a mere  local  in- 
cident in  an  endless  and  aimless  series 
of  cosmical  changes,  and  you  arrive  at  a 
doctrine  which,  under  whatever  specious 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  / 3 

name  it  may  be  veiled,  is  at  bottom  neither 
more  nor  less  than  Atheism.  On  its  met- 
aphysical side  Atheism  is  the  denial  of 
anything  psychical  in  the  universe  outside 
of  human  consciousness  ; and  it  is  almost 
inseparably  associated  with  the  materialis- 
tic interpretation  of  human  consciousness 
as  the  ephemeral  result  of  a fleeting  collo- 
cation of  particles  of  matter.  Viewed  upon 
this  side,  it  is  easy  to  show  that  Atheism 
is  very  bad  metaphysics,  while  the  materi- 
alism which  goes  with  it  is  utterly  con- 
demned by  modern  science.1  But  our  feel- 
ing toward  Atheism  goes  much  deeper 
than  the  mere  recognition  of  it  as  philo- 
sophically untrue.  The  mood  in  which  we 
condemn  it  is  not  at  all  like  the  mood  in 
which  we  reject  the  corpuscular  theory  of 
light  or  Sir  G.  C.  Lewis’s  vagaries  on  the 
subject  of  Egyptian  hieroglyphics.  We 
are  wont  to  look  upon  Atheism  with  un- 
speakable horror  and  loathing.  Our  moral 
sense  revolts  against  it  no  less  than  our 
intelligence  ; and  this  is  because,  on  its 


f4  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

practical  side,  Atheism  would  remove  Hu- 
manity from  its  peculiar  position  in  the 
world,  and  make  it  cast  in  its  lot  with  the 
grass  that  withers  and  the  beasts  that  per- 
ish  ; and  thus  the  rich  and  varied  life  of 
the  universe,  in  all  the  ages  of  its  won- 
drous duration,  becomes  deprived  of  any 
such  element  of  purpose  as  can  make  it  in- 
telligible to  us  or  appeal  to  our  moral  sym- 
pathies and  religious  aspirations. 

And  yet  the  first  result  of  some  of  the 
grandest  and  most  irrefragable  truths  of 
modern  science,  when  newly  discovered 
and  dimly  comprehended,  has  been  to 
make  it  appear  that  Humanity  must  be 
rudely  unseated  from  its  throne  in  the 
world  and  made  to  occupy  an  utterly  sub- 
ordinate and  trivial  position  ; and  it  is 
because  of  this  mistaken  view  of  their  im- 
port that  the  Church  has  so  often  and  so 
bitterly  opposed  the  teaching  of  such 
truths.  With  the  advent  of  the  Coper- 
nican  astronomy  the  funnel-shaped  Inferno, 
the  steep  mountain  of  Purgatory  crowned 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  1 5 

with  its  terrestrial  paradise,  and  those  con- 
centric spheres  of  Heaven  wherein  beati- 
fied saints  held  weird  and  subtle  converse, 
all  went  their  way  to  the  limbo  prepared 
for  the  childlike  fancies  of  untaught  minds, 
whither  Hades  and  Valhalla  had  gone  be- 
fore them.  In  our  day  it  is  hard  to  realize 
the  startling  effect  of  the  discovery  that 
Man  does  not  dwell  at  the  centre  of  things, 
but  is  the  denizen  of  an  obscure  and  tiny 
speck  of  cosmical  matter  quite  invisible 
amid  the  innumerable  throng  of  flaming 
suns  that  make  up  our  galaxy.  To  the 
contemporaries  of  Copernicus  the  new  the- 
ory seemed  to  strike  at  the  very  founda- 
tions of  Christian  theology.  In  a universe 
where  so  much  had  been  made  without  dis- 
cernible reference  to  Man,  what  became  of 
that  elaborate  scheme  of  salvation  which 
seemed  to  rest  upon  the  assumption  that 
the  career  of  Humanity  was  the  sole  ob- 
ject of  God’s  creative  forethought  and  fos- 
tering care  ? When  we  bear  this  in  mind, 
we  see  how  natural  and  inevitable  it  was 


1 6 The  Destiny  of  Man. 

that  the  Church  should  persecute  such 
men  as  Galileo  and  Bruno.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  instructive  to  observe  that,  while 
the  Copernican  astronomy  has  become 
firmly  established  in  spite  of  priestly  op- 
position, the  foundations  of  Christian  the- 
ology have  not  been  shaken  thereby.  It 
is  not  that  the  question  which  once  so 
sorely  puzzled  men  has  ever  been  settled, 
but  that  it  has  been  outgrown.  The  spec- 
ulative necessity  for  man’s  occupying  the 
largest  and  most  central  spot  in  the  uni- 
verse is  no  longer  felt.  It  is  recognized  as 
a primitive  and  childish  notion.  With  our 
larger  knowledge  we  see  that  these  vast 
and  fiery  suns  are  after  all  but  the  Titan 
like  servants  of  the  little  planets  which 
they  bear  with  them  in  their  flight  through 
the  abysses  of  space.  Out  from  the  awful 
gaseous  turmoil  of  the  central  mass  dart 
those  ceaseless  waves  of  gentle  radiance 
that,  when  caught  upon  the  surface  of 
whirling  worlds  like  ours,  bring  forth  the 
endlessly  varied  forms  and  the  endlessly 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  ij 

complex  movements  that  make  up  what 
we  can  see  of  life.  And  as  when  God  re-  • 
vealed  himself  to  his  ancient  prophet  He 
came  not  in  the  earthquake  or  the  tem- 
pest but  in  a voice  that  was  still  and  small, 
so  that  divine  spark  the  Soul,  as  it  takes 
up  its  brief  abode  in  this  realm  of  fleeting 
phenomena,  chooses  not  the  central  sun 
where  elemental  forces  forever  blaze  and 
clash,  but  selects  an  outlying  terrestrial 
nook  where  seeds  may  germinate  in  si- 
lence, and  where  through  slow  fruition  the 
mysterious  forms  of  organic  life  may  come 
to  take  shape  and  thrive.  He  who  thus 
looks  a little  deeper  into  the  secrets  of  na- 
ture than  his  forefathers  of  the  sixteenth 
century  may  well  smile  at  the  quaint  con- 
ceit that  man  cannot  be  the  object  of  God’s 
care  unless  he  occupies  an  immovable  posi-  - 
tion  in  the  centre  of  the  stellar  universe. 


II. 


Man’s  Place  in  Nature,  as  affected  by 
Darwinism. 

HEN  the  Copernican  astronomy 
was  finally  established  through  the 
discoveries  of  Kepler  and  Newton, 
it  might  well  have  been  pronounced  the 
greatest  scientific  achievement  of  the  hu- 
man mind  ; but  it  was  still  more  than  that. 
It  was  the  greatest  revolution  that  had 
ever  been  effected  in  Man’s  views  of  his 
relations  to  the  universe  in  which  he  lives, 
and  of  which  he  is  — at  least  during  the 
present  life  — a part.  During  the  nine- 
teenth  century,  however,  a still  greater 
revolution  has  been  effected.  Not  only 
has  Lyell  enlarged  our  mental  horizon  in 
time  as  much  as  Newton  enlarged  it  in 
space,  but  it  appears  that  throughout  these 
vast  stretches  of  time  and  space  with  which 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  19 

we  have  been  made  acquainted  there  are 
sundry  well-marked  changes  going  on. 
Certain  definite  paths  of  development  are 
being  pursued  ; and  around  us  on  every 
side  we  behold  worlds,  organisms,  and 
societies  in  divers  stages  of  progress  or 
decline.  Still  more,  as  we  examine  the 
records  of  past  life  upon  our  globe,  and 
study  the  mutual  relations  of  the  liv- 
ing things  that  still  remain,  it  appears 
that  the  higher  forms  of  life  — including 
Man  himself  — are  the  modified  descend- 
ants of  lower  forms.  Zoologically  speak- 
ing, Man  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  a 
creature  apart  by  himself.  We  cannot 
erect  an  order  on  purpose  to  contain  him, 
as  Cuvier  tried  to  do  ; we  cannot  even 
make  a separate  family  for  him.  Man  is 
not  only  a vertebrate,  a mammal,  and  a 
primate,  but  he  belongs,  as  a genus,  to  the 
catarrhine  family  of  apes.  And  just  as 
lions,  leopards,  and  lynxes  — different  gen- 
era of  the  cat-family  — are  descended  from 
a common  stock  of  carnivora,  back  to 


20  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

which  we  may  also  trace  the  pedigrees  of 
dogs,  hyaenas,  bears,  and  seals  ; so  the  va- 
rious genera  of  platyrrhine  and  catarrhine 
apes,  including  Man,  are  doubtless  de- 
scended from  a common  stock  of  primates, 
back  to  which  we  may  also  trace  the  con- 
verging pedigrees  of  monkeys  and  lemurs, 
until  their  ancestry  becomes  indistinguish- 
able from  that  of  rabbits  and  squirrels. 
Such  is  the  conclusion  to  which  the  scien- 
tific world  has  come  within  a quarter  of  a 
century  from  the  publication  of  Mr.  Dar- 
win’s “ Origin  of  Species ; ” and  there  is 
no  more  reason  for  supposing  that  this 
conclusion  will  ever  be  gainsaid  than  for 
supposing  that  the  Copernican  astronomy 
will  some  time  be  overthrown  and  the 
concentric  spheres  of  Dante’s  heaven  re- 
instated in  the  minds  of  men. 

It  is  not  strange  that  this  theory  of 
man’s  origin,  which  we  associate  mainly 
with  the  name  of  Mr.  Darwin,  should  be 
to  many  people  very  unwelcome.  It  is 
fast  bringing  about  a still  greater  revolu- 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  2 1 

tion  in  thought  than  that  which  was  her- 
alded by  Copernicus  ; and  it  naturally  takes 
some  time  for  the  various  portions  of  one’s 
theory  of  things  to  become  adjusted,  one 
after  another,  to  so  vast  and  sweeping  a 
change.  From  many  quarters  the  cry  goes 
up,  — If  this  be  true,  then  Man  is  at  length 
cast  down  from  his  high  position  in  the 
world.  “ I will  not  be  called  a mammal,  *- 
or  the  son  of  a mammal!  ” once  exclaimed 
an  acquaintance  of  mine  who  perhaps  had 
been  brought  up  by  hand.  Such  expres- 
sions of  feeling  are  crude,  but  the  feeling  is 
not  unjustifiable.  It  is  urged  that  if  man 
is  physically  akin  to  a baboon,  as  pigs  are 
akin  to  horses,  and  cows  to  deer,  then  Hu- 
manity can  in  nowise  be  regarded  as  occu- 
pying a peculiar  place  in  the  universe  ; it 
becomes  a mere  incident  in  an  endless  se- 
ries of  changes,  and  how  can  we  say  that 
the  same  process  of  evolution  that  has  pro- 
duced mankind  may  not  by  and  by  produce 
something  far  more  perfect  ? There  was  a 
time  when  huge  bird-like  reptiles  were  the 


22  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

lords  of  creation,  and  after  these  had  been 
“ sealed  within  the  iron  hills  ” there  came 
successive  dynasties  of  mammals ; and  as 
the  iguanodon  gave  place  to  the  great  Eo- 
cene marsupials,  as  the  mastodon  and  the 
sabre-toothed  lion  have  long  since  van- 
ished from  the  scene,  so  may  not  Man  by 
and  by  disappear  to  make  way  for  some 
higher  creature,  and  so  on  forever  ? In 
such  case,  why  should  we  regard  Man  as 
in  any  higher  sense  the  object  of  Divine 
care  than  a pig  ? Still  stronger  does  the 
case  appear  when  we  remember  that  those 
countless  adaptations  of  means  to  ends  in 
nature,  which  since  the  time  of  Voltaire 
and  Paley  we  have  been  accustomed  to 
cite  as  evidences  of  creative  design,  have 
received  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Darwin  a 
very  different  interpretation.  The  lob- 
ster’s powerful  claw,  the  butterfly’s  gor- 
geous tints,  the  rose’s  delicious  fragrance, 
the  architectural  instinct  of  the  bee,  the 
astonishing  structure  of  the  orchid,  are  no 
longer  explained  as  the  results  of  contri- 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  23 

vance.  That  simple  but  wasteful  process 
of  survival  of  the  fittest,  through  which 
such  marvellous  thing®  have  come  into  be- 
ing, has  little  about  it  that  is  analogous  to 
the  ingenuity  of  human  art.  The  infinite 
and  eternal  Power  which  is  thus  revealed 
in  the  physical  life  of  the  universe  seems 
in  nowise  akin  to  the  human  soul.  The 
idea  of  beneficent  purpose  seems  for  the 
moment  to  be  excluded  from  nature,  and  a 
blind  process,  known  as  Natural  Selection, 
is  the  deity  that  slumbers  not  nor  sleeps. 
Reckless  of  good  and  evil,  it  brings  forth 
at  once  the  mother’s  tender  love  for  her 
infant  and  the  horrible  teeth  of  the  raven- 
ing shark,  and  to  its  creative  indifference 
the  one  is  as  good  as  the  other. 

In  spite  of  these  appalling  arguments  the 
man  of  science,  urged  by  the  single-hearted 
purpose  to  ascertain  the  truth,  be  the  con- 
sequences what  they  may,  goes  quietly  on 
and  finds  that  the  terrible  theory  must  be 
adopted;  the  fact  of  man’s  consanguinity 
with  dumb  beasts  must  be  admitted.  In 


24  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

reaching  this  conclusion,  the  man  of  sci- 
ence reasons  upon  the  physical  facts  within 
his  reach,  applying  tcythem  the  same  prin- 
ciples of  common-sense  whereby  our  every- 
day lives  are  successfully  guided  ; and  he  is 
very  apt  to  smile  at  the  methods  of  those 
people  who,  taking  hold  of  the  question  at 
the  wrong  end,  begin  by  arguing  about  all 
manner  of  fancied  consequences.  For  his 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  human  think- 
ing assures  him  that  such  methods  have 
through  all  past  time  proved  barren  of 
aught  save  strife,  while  his  own  bold  yet 
humble  method  is  the  only  one  through 
which  truth  has  ever  been  elicited.  To 
pursue  unflinchingly  the  methods  of  sci- 
ence requires  dauntless  courage  and  a faith 
that  nothing  can  shake.  Such  courage 
and  such  loyalty  to  nature  brings  its  own 
reward.  For  when  once  the  formidable 
theory  is  really  understood,  when  once  its 
implications  are  properly  unfolded,  it  is 
seen  to  have  no  such  logical  consequences 
as  were  at  first  ascribed  to  it.  As  with 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  25 

the  Copernican  astronomy,  so  with  the 
Darwinian  biology,  we  rise  to  a higher 
view  of  the  workings  of  God  and  of  the 
nature  of  Man  than  was  ever  attainable 
before.  So  far  from  degrading  Humanity, 
or  putting  it  on  a level  with  the  animal 
world  in  general,  the  Darwinian  theory 
shows  us  distinctly  for  the  first  time  how 
the  creation  and  the  perfecting  of  Man  is 
the  goal  toward  which  Nature’s  work  has 
all  the  while  been  tending.  It  enlarges 
tenfold  the  significance  of  human  life, 
places  it  upon  even  a loftier  eminence 
than  poets  or  prophets  have  imagined,  and 
makes  it  seem  more  than  ever  the  chief 
object  of  that  creative  activity  which  is 
manifested  in  the  physical  universe. 


III. 


On  the  Earth  there  will  never  be  a Higher 
Creature  than  Man. 


N elucidating  these  points,  we  may 
fitly  begin  by  considering  the 
question  as  to  the  possibility  cf  the 
evolution  of  any  higher  creature  than  Man, 
to  whom  the  dominion  over  this  earth  shall 
pass.  The  question  will  best  be  answered 
by  turning  back  and  observing  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  connected  with 
the  origin  of  Man  and  with  his  superiority 
over  other  animals.  And  let  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  we  are  not  now  about  to  wander 
through  the  regions  of  unconditional  possi- 
bility. We  are  not  dealing  with  vague 
general  notions  of  development,  but  with 
the  scientific  Darwinian  theory,  which  al- 
leges development  only  as  the  result  of 
certain  rigorously  defined  agencies.  The 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  27 

chief  among  these  agencies  is  Natural  Se- 
lection. It  has  again  and  again  been  illus- 
trated how  by  the  cumulative  selection  and 
inheritance  of  slight  physical  variations 
generic  differences,  like  those  between  the 
tiger  and  the  leopard,  or  the  cow  and  the 
antelope,  at  length  arise;  and  the  guid- 
ing principle  in  the  accumulation  of  slight 
physical  differences  has  been  the  welfare 
of  the  species.  The  variant  forms  on  either? 
side  have  survived  while  the  constant  forms 
have  perished,  so  that  the  lines  of  demar- 
cation between  allied  species  have  grown 
more  and  more  distinct,  and  it  is  usually 
only  by  going  back  to  fossil  ages  that  we 
can  supply  the  missing  links  of  continuity. 
In  the  desperate  struggle  for  existence  no 
peculiarity,  physical  or  psychical,  however 
slight,  has  been  too  insignificant  for  nat- 
ural selection  to  seize  and  enhance ; and 
the  myriad  fantastic  forms  and  hues  of  an- 
imal and  vegetal  life  illustrate  the  seeming 
capriciousness  of  its  workings.  Psychical 
variations  have  never  been  unimportant 


28  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

since  the  appearance  of  the  first  faint  pig- 
ment-spot which  by  and  by  was  to  translate 
touch  into  vision,  as  it  developed  into  the 
lenses  and  humours  of  the  eye.2  Special 
organs  of  sense  and  the  lower  grades  of 
perception  and  judgment  were  slowly  de- 
veloped through  countless  ages,  in  com- 
pany with  purely  physical  variations  of 
shape  of  foot,  or  length  of  neck,  or  com- 
plexity of  stomach,  or  thickness  of  hide. 
At  length  there  came  a wonderful  moment 
— silent  and  unnoticed,  as  are  the  begin- 
nings of  all  great  revolutions.  Silent  and 
unnoticed,  even  as  the  day  of  the  Lord 
which  cometh  like  a thief  in  the  night, 
there  arrived  that  wonderful  moment  at 
which  psychical  changes  began  to  be  of 
more  use  than  physical  changes  to  the 
brute  ancestor  of  Man.  Through  further 
ages  of  ceaseless  struggle  the  profitable 
variations  in  this  creature  occurred  oftener 
and  oftener  in  the  brain,  and  less  often  in 
other  parts  of  the  organism,  until  by  and 
by  the  size  of  his  brain  had  been  doubled 


29 


V 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

and  its  complexity  of  structure  increased 
a thousand-fold,  while  in  other  respects  his 
appearance  was  not  so  very  different  from 
that  of  his  brother  apes.3  Along  with  this 
growth  of  the  brain,  the  complete  assump- 
tion of  the  upright  posture,  enabling  the 
hands  to  be  devoted  entirely  to  prehension 
and  thus  relieving  the  jaws  of  that  part  of 
their  work,  has  cooperated  in  producing 
that  peculiar  contour  of  head  and  face 
which  is  the  chief  distinguishing  mark  of 
physical  Man.  These  slight  anatomical 
changes  derive  their  importance  entirely 
from  the  prodigious  intellectual  changes 
in  connection  with  which  they  have  been 
produced  ; and  these  intellectual  changes 
have  been  accumulated  until  the  distance, 
psychically  speaking,  between  civilized  man 
and  the  ape  is  so  great  as  to  dwarf  in  com- 
parison all  that  had  been  achieved  in  the 
process  of  evolution  down  to  the  time  of 
our  half-human  ancestor’s  first  appearance. 
No  fact  in  nature  is  fraught  with  deeper 
meaning  than  this  two-sided  fact  of  the 


\ 


jo  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

extreme  physical  similarity  and  enormous 
psychical  divergence  between  Man  and  the 
group  of  animals  to  which  he  traces  his 
pedigree.  It  shows  that  when  Human- 
ity began  to  be  evolved  an  entirely  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  universe  was 
opened.  Henceforth  the  life  of  the  nas- 
cent soul  came  to  be  first  in  importance, 
and  the  bodily  life  became  subordinated  to 
it.  Henceforth  it  appeared  that,  in  this 
direction  at  least,  the  process  of  zoological 
change  had  come  to  an  end,  and  a process 
of  psychological  change  was  to  take  its 
place.  Henceforth  along  this  supreme  line 
of  generation  there  was  to  be  no  further 
evolution  of  new  species  through  physical 
variation,  but  through  the  accumulation  of 
psychical  variations  one  particular  species 
was  to  be  indefinitely  perfected  and  raised 
to  a totally  different  plane  from  that  on 
which  all  life  had  hitherto  existed.  Hence- 
forth, in  short,  the  dominant  aspect  of  ev- 
olution was  to  be  not  the  genesis  of  spe- 
cies, but  the  progress  of  Civilization. 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  31 

As  we  thoroughly  grasp  the  meaning  of 
all  this,  we  see  that  upon  the  Darwinian 
theory  it  is  impossible  that  any  creature 
zoologically  distinct  from  Man  and  supe- 
rior to  him  should  ever  at  any  future  time 
exist  upon  the  earth.  In  the  regions  of 
unconditional  possibility  it  is  open  to  any 
one  to  argue,  if  he  chooses,  that  such  a 
creature  may  come  to  exist  ; but  the  Dar- 
winian theory  is  utterly  opposed  to  any 
such  conclusion.  According  to  Darwinism, 
the  creation  of  Man  is  still  the  goal  toward 
which  Nature  tended  from  the  beginning. 
Not  the  production  of  any  higher  creature, 
but  the  perfecting  of  Humanity,  is  to  be 
the  glorious  consummation  of  Nature’s 
long  and  tedious  work.  Thus  we  sud- 
denly arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  Man 
seems  now,  much  more  clearly  than  ever, 
the  chief  among  God’s  creatures.  On  the 
primitive  barbaric  theory,  which  Mr.  Dar- 
win has  swept  away,  Man  was  suddenly 
flung  into  the  world  by  the  miraculous  act 
of  some  unseen  and  incalculable  Power  act- 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

ing  from  without  ; and  whatever  theology- 
might  suppose,  no  scientific  reason  could 
be  alleged  why  the  same  incalculable 
Power  might  not  at  some  future  moment, 
by  a similar  miracle,  thrust  upon  the  scene 
some  mightier  creature  in  whose  presence 
Man  would  become  like  a sorry  beast  of 
burden.  But  he  who  has  mastered  the 
Darwinian  theory,  he  who  recognizes  the 
slow  and  subtle  process  of  evolution  as  the 
way  in  which  God  makes  things  come  to 
pass,  must  take  a far  higher  view.  He  sees 
that  in  the  deadly  struggle  for  existence 
which  has  raged  throughout  countless 
seons  of  time,  the  whole  creation  has  been 
groaning  and  travailing  together  in  order 
to  bring  forth  that  last  consummate  speci- 
men of  God’s  handiwork,  the  Human  Soul. 

To  the  creature  thus  produced  through 
a change  in  the  direction  in  which  natural 
selection  has  worked,  the  earth  and  most 
of  its  living  things  have  become  gradually 
subordinated.  In  all  the  classes  of  the 
animal  and  vegetal  worlds  many  ancient 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  33 

species  have  become  extinct,  and  many 
modern  species  have  come  into  being, 
through  the  unchecked  working  of  natural 
selection,  since  Man  became  distinctively 
human.  But  in  this  respect  a change  has 
long  been  coming  over  the  face  of  nature. 
The  destinies  of  all  other  living  things  are 
more  and  more  dependent  upon  the  will  of 
Man.  It  rests  with  him  to  determine,  to  a 
great  degree,  what  plants  and  animals  shall 
remain  upon  the  earth  and  what  shall  be 
swept  from  its  surface.  By  unconsciously 
imitating  the  selective  processes  of  Na- 
ture, he  long  ago  wrought  many  wild  spe- 
cies into  forms  subservient  to  his  needs. 
He  has  created  new  varieties  of  fruit  and 
flower  and  cereal  grass,  and  has  reared 
new  breeds  of  animals  to  aid  him  in  the 
work  of  civilization  ; until  ah  length  he  is 
beginning  to  acquire  a mastery  over  me- 
chanical and  molecular  and  chemical  forces 
which  is  doubtless  destined  in  the  future 
to  achieve  marvellous  results  whereof  to- 
day we  little  dream.  Natural  selection 


3 


*4  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

itself  will  by  and  by  occupy  a subordinate 
place  in  comparison  with  selection  by 
Man,  whose  appearance  on  the  earth  is 
thus  seen  more  clearly  than  ever  to  have 
opened  an  entirely  new  chapter  in  the  mys- 
terious history  of  creation. 


IV. 

The  Origin  of  Infancy. 

before  we  can  fully  understand 
: exalted  position  which  the 
rwinian  theory  assigns  to  man, 
another  point  demands  consideration.  The 
natural  selection  of  psychical  peculiarities 
does  not  alone  account  for  the  origin  of 
Man,  or  explain  his  most  signal  difference 
from  all  other  animals.  That  difference  is 
unquestionably  a difference  in  kind,  but  in 
saying  this  one  must  guard  against  mis- 
understanding. Not  only  in  the  world  of 
organic  life,  but  throughout  the  known 
universe,  the  doctrine  of  evolution  regards 
differences  in  kind  as  due  to  the  gradual 
accumulation  of  differences  in  degree.  To 
cite  a very  simple  case,  what  differences  of 
kind  can  be  more  striking  than  the  differ- 
ences between  a nebula,  a sun,  a planet 


i6  rbe  Destiny  of  Man. 

like  the  earth,  and  a planet  like  our  moon  ? 
Yet  these  things  are  simply  examples  of 
cosmical  matter  at  four  different  stages  of 
cooling.  The  physical  differences  between 
steam,  water,  and  ice  afford  a more  famil- 
iar example.  In  the  organic  world  the  per- 
petual modification  of  structures  that  has 
been  effected  through  natural  selection  ex- 
hibits countless  instances  of  differences  in 
kind  which  have  risen  from  the  accumu- 
lation of  differences  in  degree.  No  one 
would  hesitate  to  call  a horse’s  hoof  differ- 
ent in  kind  from  a cat’s  paw  ; yet  a hoof 
is  made  up  of  five  claws  grown  together 
and  furnished  with  a nail  in  common.  The 
most  signal  differences  in  kind  are  wont  to 
arise  when  organs  originally  developed  for 
a certain  purpose  come  to  be  applied  to  a 
very  different  purpose,  as  that  change  of 
the  fish’s  air-bladder  into  a lung  which  ac- 
companied the  first  development  of  land 
vertebrates.  But  still  greater  becomes  the 
revolution  when  a certain  process  goes  on 
until  it  sets  going  a number  of  other  proc* 


The  Destiny  of  Man . 

esses,  unlocking  series  after  series  of  cau- 
sal agencies  until  a vast  and  complicated 
result  is  reached,  such  as  could  by  no  pos- 
sibility have  been  foreseen.  The  creation 
of  Man  was  one  of  these  vast  and  compli- 
cated results  due  to  the  unlocking  of  vari- 
ous series  of  causal  agencies  ; and  it  was 
the  beginning  of  a deeper  and  mightier 
difference  in  kind  than  any  that  slowly- 
evolving  Nature  had  yet  witnessed. 

I have  indicated,  as  the  moment  at 
which  the  creation  of  mankind  began,  the 
moment  when  psychical  variations  became 
of  so  much  more  use  to  our  ancestors 
than  physical  variations  that  they  were 
seized  and  enhanced  by  natural  selection, 
to  the  comparative  neglect  of  the  latter. 
Increase  of  intellectual  capacity,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  developing  brain  of  a single  i 
race  of  creatures,  now  became  the  chief 
work  of  natural  selection  in  ori°-inatinsr 
Man  ; and  this,  I say,  was  the  opening  of 
a new  chapter,  the  last  and  most  wonder- 
ful chapter,  in  the  history  of  creation.  But 


$8  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

the  increasing  intelligence  and  enlarged 
experience  of  half-human  man  now  set  in 
motion  a new  series  of  changes  which 
greatly  complicated  the  matter.  In  order 
to  understand  these  changes,  we  must 
consider  for  a moment  one  very  important 
characteristic  of  developing  intelligence. 

The  simplest  actions  in  which  the  ner- 
vous system  is  concerned  are  what  we  call 
reflex  actions.  All  the  visceral  actions 
which  keep  us  alive  from  moment  to 
moment,  the  movements  of  the  heart  and 
lungs,  the  contractions  of  arteries,  the 
secretions  of  glands,  the  digestive  opera- 
tions of  the  stomach  and  liver,  belong  to 
the  class  of  reflex  actions.  Throughout 
the  animal  world  these  acts  are  repeated, 
with  little  or  no  variation,  from  birth  un- 
til death,  and  the  tendency  to  perform 
them  is  completely  organized  in  the  ner- 
vous system  before  birth.  Every  animal 
breathes  and  digests  as  well  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  life  as  he  ever  does.  Contact 
with  air  and  food  is  all  that  is  needed,  and 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  39 

there  is  nothing  to  be  learned.  These  ac- 
tions, though  they  are  performed  by  the 
nervous  system,  we  do  not  class  as  psychi- 
cal, because  they  are  nearly  or  quite  un- 
attended by  consciousness.  The  psychical 
life  of  the  lowest  animals  consists  of  a few 
simple  acts  directed  toward  the  securing 
of  food  and  the  avoidance  of  danger,  and 
these  acts  we  are  in  the  habit  of  classing 
as  instinctive.  They  are  so  simple,  so 
few,  and  so  often  repeated,  that  the  ten- 
dency to  perform  them  is  completely  or- 
ganized in  the  nervous  system  before 
birth.  The  animal  takes  care  of  himself 
as  soon  as  he  begins  to  live.  He  has 
nothing  to  learn,  and  his  career  is  a sim- 
ple repetition  of  the  careers  of  countless 
ancestors.  With  him  heredity  is  every- 
thing, and  his  individual  experience  is 
next  to  nothing. 

As  we  ascend  the  animal  scale  till  we 
come  to  the  higher  birds  and  mammals, 
we  find  a very  interesting  and  remarkable 
change  beginning.  The  general  increase 


40  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

of  intelligence  involves  an  increasing  vari- 
ety and  complication  of  experiences.  The 
acts  which  the  animal  performs  in  the 
course  of  its  life  become  far  more  numer- 
ous, far  more  various,  and  far  more  com- 
plex. They  are  therefore  severally  re- 
peated with  less  frequency  in  the  lifetime 
of  each  individual.  Consequently  the  ten- 
dency to  perform  them  is  not  completely 
organized  in  the  nervous  system  of  the 
offspring  before  birth.  The  short  period 
of  ante-natal  existence  does  not  afford 
time  enough  for  the  organization  of  so 
many  and  such  complex  habitudes  and 
capacities.  The  process  which  in  the 
lower  animals  is  completed  before  birth  is 
in  the  higher  animals  left  to  be  completed 
after  birth.  When  the  creature  begins  its 
life  it  is  not  completely  organized.  In- 
stead of  the  power  of  doing  all  the  things 
which  its  parents  did,  it  starts  with  the 
power  of  doing  only  some  few  of  them  ; 
for  the  rest  it  has  only  latent  capacities 
which  need  to  be  brought  out  by  its  in* 


4 1 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

dividual  experience  after  birth.  In  other 
words,  it  begins  its  separate  life  not  as  a j 
matured  creature,  but  as  an  infant  which 
needs  for  a time  to  be  watched  and 
helped. 


The  Dawning  of  Consciousness. 

ERE  we  arrive  at  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  moments  in  the  history 
of  creation,  — the  moment  of  the 
first  faint  dawning  of  consciousness,  the 
foreshadowing  of  the  true  life  of  the  soul. 
Whence  came  the  soul  we  no  more  know 
than  we  know  whence  came  the  universe. 
The  primal  origin  of  consciousness  is  hid- 
den in  the  depths  of  the  bygone  eternity. 
That  it  cannot  possibly  be  the  product  of 
any  cunning  arrangement  of  material  par- 
ticles is  demonstrated  beyond  peradventure 
by  what  we  now  know  of  the  correlation  of 
physical  forces.4  The  Platonic  view  of  the 
soul,  as  a spiritual  substance,  an  effluence 
from  Godhood,  which  under  certain  con- 
ditions becomes  incarnated  in  perishable 
forms  of  matter,  is  doubtless  the  view 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  43 

most  consonant  with  the  present  state  of 
our  knowledge.  Yet  while  we  know  not 
the  primal  origin  of  the  soul,  we  have 
learned  something  with  regard  to  the  con- 
ditions under  which  it  has  become  incar- 
nated in  material  forms.  Modern  psychol- 
ogy has  something  to  say  about  the  dawrn 
ing  of  conscious  life  in  the  animal  world. 
Reflex  action  is  unaccompanied  by  con- 
sciousness. The  nervous  actions  which 
regulate  the  movements  of  the  viscera  go 
on  without  our  knowledge  ; we  learn  of 
their  existence  only  by  study,  as  we  learn 
of  facts  in  outward  nature.  If  you  tickle 
the  foot  of  a person  asleep,  and  the  foot 
is  withdrawn  by  simple  reflex  action,  the 
sleeper  is  unconscious  alike  of  the  irrita- 
tion and  of  the  movement,  even  as  the 
decapitated  frog  is  unconscious  when  a 
drop  of  nitric  acid  falls  on  his  back  and  he 
lifts  up  a leg  and  rubs  the  place.  In  like 
manner  the  reflex  movements  which  make 
up  the  life  of  the  lowest  animals  are  doubt- 
less quite  unconscious,  even  when  in  their 


44  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

general  character  they  simulate  conscious 
actions,  as  they  often  do.  In  the  case  of 
such  creatures,  the  famous  hypothesis  of 
Descartes,  that  animals  are  automata,  is 
doubtless  mainly  correct.  In  the  case  of 
instincts  also,  where  the  instinctive  ac- 
tions are  completely  organized  before  birth, 
and  are  repeated  without  variation  during 
the  whole  lifetime  of  the  individual,  there 
is  probably  little  if  any  consciousness.  It 
is  an  essential  prerequisite  of  conscious- 
ness that  there  should  be  a period  of  delay 
or  tension  between  the  receipt  of  an  im- 
pression and  the  determination  of  the  con- 
sequent movement.  Diminish  this  period 
of  delay  and  you  diminish  the  vividness  of 
consciousness.  A familiar  example  will 
make  this  clear.  When  you  are  learning 
to  play  a new  piece  of  music  on  the  piano, 
especially  if  you  do  not  read  music  rapidly, 
you  are  intensely  conscious  of  each  group 
of  notes  on  the  page,  and  of  each  group  of 
keys  that  you  strike,  and  of  the  relations 
of  the  one  to  the  other.  But  when  you 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  45 

have  learned  the  piece  by  heart,  you  think 
nothing  of  either  notes  or  keys,  but  play 
automatically  while  your  attention  is  con- 
centrated upon  the  artistic  character  of  the 
music.  If  somebody  thoughtlessly  inter- 
rupts you  with  a question  about  Egyptian 
politics,  you  go  on  playing  while  you  an- 
swer him  politely.  That  is,  where  you  had 
at  first  to  make  a conscious  act  of  volition 
for  each  movement,  the  whole  group  of 
movements  has  now  become  automatic,  and 
volition  is  only  concerned  in  setting  the 
process  going.  As  the  delay  involved  in 
the  perception  and  the  movement  disap- 
pears, so  does  the  consciousness  of  the 
perception  and  the  movement  tend  to  dis. 
appear.  Consciousness  implies  perpetual 
discrimination,  or  the  recognition  of  like- 
nesses and  differences,  and  this  is  impossi- 
ble unless  impressions  persist  long  enough 
to  be  compared  with  one  another.  The 
physical  organs  in  connection  with  whose 
activity  consciousness  is  manifested  are  the 
upper  and  outer  parts  of  the  brain,  — the 


46  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

cerebrum  and  cerebellum.  These  organs 
never  receive  impressions  directly  from 
the  outside  world,  but  only  from  lower 
nerve-centres,  such  as  the  spinal  cord,  the 
medulla,  the  optic  lobes,  and  other  special 
centres  of  sensation.  The  impressions  re- 
ceived by  the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum 
are  waves  of  molecular  disturbance  sent 
up  along  centripetal  nerves  from  the  lower 
centres,  and  presently  drafted  off  along 
• centrifugal  nerves  back  to  the  lower  cen- 
tres, thus  causing  the  myriad  movements 
tvhich  make  up  our  active  life.  Now  there 
is  no  consciousness  except  when  molecu- 
lar disturbance  is  generated  in  the  cere- 
brum and  cerebellum  faster  than  it  can  be 
drafted  off  to  the  lower  centres.5  It  is  the 
surplus  of  molecular  disturbance  remain- 
ing in  the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum,  and 
reflected  back  and  forth  among  the  cells 
and  fibres  of  which  these  highest  centres 
are  composed,  that  affords  the  physical 
condition  for  the  manifestation  of  con- 
sciousness. Memory,  emotion,  reason,  and 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  47 

volition  begin  with  this  retention  of  a sur- 
plus of  molecular  motion  in  the  high- 
est centres.  As  we  survey  the  vertebrate 
sub-kingdom  of  animals,  we  find  that  as 
this  surplus  increases,  the  surface  of  the 
highest  centres  increases  in  area.  In  the 
lowest  vertebrate  animal,  the  amphioxus, 
the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum  do  not  exist 
at  all.  In  fishes  we  begin  to  find  them, 
but  they  are  much  smaller  than  the  optic 
lobes.  In  such  a highly  organized  fish  as 
the  halibut,  which  weighs  about  as  much 
as  an  average-sized  man,  the  cerebrum  is 
smaller  than  a melon -seed.  Continuing 
to  grow  by  adding  concentric  layers  at 
the  surface,  the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum 
become  much  larger  in  birds  and  lower 
mammals,  gradually  covering  up  the  optic 
lobes.  As  we  pass  to  higher  mammalian 
forms,  the  growth  of  the  cerebrum  be- 
comes most  conspicuous,  until  it  extends 
backwards  so  far  as  to  cover  up  the  cere- 
bellum, whose  functions  are  limited  to  the 
conscious  adjustment  of  muscular  move- 


48  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

ments.  In  the  higher  apes  the  cerebrum 
begins  to  extend  itself  forwards,  and  this 
goes  on  in  the  human  race.  The  cranial  - 
capacity  of  the  European  exceeds  that  of 
the  Australian  by  forty  cubic  inches,  or 
nearly  four  times  as  much  as  that  by 
which  the  Australian  exceeds  the  gorilla ; 
and  the  expansion  is  almost  entirely  in  the 
upper  and  anterior  portions.  But  the  in- 
crease of  the  cerebral  surface  is  shown  not 
only  in  the  general  size  of  the  organ,  but 
to  a still  greater  extent  in  the  irregular 
creasing  and  furrowing  of  the  surface. 
This  creasing  and  furrowing  begins  to 
occur  in  the  higher  mammals,  and  in  civ- 
ilized man  it  is  carried  to  an  astonishing 
extent.  The  amount  of  intelligence  is 
correlated  with  the  number,  the  depth, 
and  the  irregularity  of  the  furrows.  A 
cat’s  brain  has  a few  symmetrical  creases. 

In  an  ape  the  creases  are  deepened  into 
slight  furrows,  and  they  run  irregularly, 
somewhat  like  the  lines  in  the  palm  of 
your  hand.  With  age  and  experience  the 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  49 

furrows  grow  deeper  and  more  sinuous, 
and  new  ones  appear  ; and  in  man  these 
phenomena  come  to  have  great  signifi- 
cance. The  cerebral  surface  of  a human 
infant  is  like  that  of  an  ape.  In  an  adult 
savage,  or  in  a European  peasant,  the  fur- 
rowing is  somewhat  marked  and  compli- 
cated. In  the  brain  of  a great  scholar, 
the  furrows  are  very  deep  and  crooked, 
and  hundreds  of  creases  appear  which  are 
not  found  at  all  in  the  brains  of  ordinary 
men.  In  other  words,  the  cerebral  surface 
of  such  a man,  the  seat  of  conscious  men- 
tal life,  has  become  enormously  enlarged 
in  area  ; and  we  must  further  observe  that 
it  goes  on  enlarging  in  some  cases  into  ex- 
treme old  age.6 

Putting  all  these  facts  together,  it  be- 
comes plain  that  in  the  lowest  animals, 
whose  lives  consist  of  sundry  reflex  ac- 
tions monotonously  repeated  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  there  can  be  nothing, 
or  next  to  nothing,  of  what  we  know  as 
consciousness.  It  is  only  when  the  life 


4 


jo  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

becomes  more  complicated  and  various,  so 
that  reflex  action  can  no  longer  determine 
all  its  movements  and  the  higher  nerve- 
centres  begin  to  be  evolved,  that  the  dawn- 
ing of  consciousness  is  reached.  But  with 
the  growth  of  the  higher  centres  the  ca= 
pacities  of  action  become  so  various  and 
indeterminate  that  definite  direction  is 
not  given  to  them  until  after  birth.  The 
creature  begins  life  as  an  infant,  with  its 
partially  developed  cerebrum  representing 
capabilities  which  it  is  left  for  its  individual  " 
experience  to  bring  forth  and  modify. 


Lengthening  of  Infancy,  and  Concomitant 
Increase  of  Brain-Surface. 

Eg|||HE  first  appearance  of  infancy  in 
the  animal  world  thus  heralded 
the  new  era  which  was  to  be 
crowned  by  the  development  of  Man. 
With  the  beginnings  of  infancy  there 
came  the  first  dawning  of  a conscious  life 
similar  in  nature  to  the  conscious  life  of 
human  beings,  and  there  came,  moreover, 
on  the  part  of  parents,  the  beginning  of 
feelings  and  actions  not  purely  self-regard- 
ing. But  still  more,  the  period  of  infancy 
was  a period  of  plasticity.  The  career  of 
each  individual  being  no  longer  wholly  pre- 
determined by  the  careers  of  its  ancestors, 
it  began  to  become  teachable.  Individual- 
ity of  character  also  became  possible  at 
the  same  time,  and  for  the  same  reason, 


$2  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

All  birds  and  mammals  which  take  care  of 
their  young  are  teachable,  though  in  very 
various  degrees,  and  all  in  like  manner 
show  individual  peculiarities  of  disposition, 
though  in  most  cases  these  are  slight  and 
inconspicuous.  In  dogs,  horses,  and  apes 
there  is  marked  teachableness,  and  there 
are  also  marked  differences  in  individual 
character. 

But  in  the  non-human  animal  world  all 
these  phenomena  are  but  slightly  devel- 
oped. They  are  but  the  dim  adumbrations 
of  what  was  by  and  by  to  bloom  forth  in 
the  human  race.  They  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  served  as  a prophecy  of  the 
revolution  that  was  to  come.  One  genera- 
tion of  dumb  beasts  is  after  all  very  like 
another,  and  from  studying  the  careers  of 
the  mastodon,  the  hipparion,  the  sabre- 
toothed  lion,  or  even  the  dryopithecus,  an 
observer  in  the  Miocene  age  could  never 
have  foreseen  the  possibility  of  a creature 
endowed  with  such  a boundless  capacity 
of  progress  as  the  modern  Man.  Never 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  55 

theless,  however  dimly  suggestive  was  this 
group  of  phenomena,  it  contained  the 
germ  of  all  that  is  preeminent  in  human- 
ity. In  the  direct  line  of  our  ancestry 
it  only  needed  that  the  period  of  infancy  y 
should  be  sufficiently  prolonged,  in  or- 
der that  a creature  should  at  length  ap- 
pear, endowed  with  the  teachableness,  the 
individuality,  and  the  capacity  for  prog- 
ress which  are  the  peculiar  prerogatives 
of  fully-developed  Man.7  In  this  direct 
line  the  manlike  apes  of  Africa  and  the 
Indian  Archipelago  have  advanced  far  be- 
yond the  mammalian  world  in  general. 
Along  with  a cerebral  surface,  and  an  ac- 
companying intelligence,  far  greater  than 
that  of  other  mammals,  these  tailless  apes 
begin  life  as  helpless  babies,  and  are  un- 
able to  walk,  to  feed  themselves,  or  to 
grasp  objects  with  precision  until  they 
are  two  or  three  months  old.  These  apes 
have  thus  advanced  a little  way  upon  the 
peculiar  road  which  our  half-human  fore- 
fathers began  to  travel  as  soon  as  psychi- 


54  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

cal  variations  came  to  be  of  more  use  to 
the  species  than  variations  in  bodily  struc- 
ture. The  gulf  by  which  the  lowest  known 
man  is  separated  from  the  highest  known 
ape  consists  in  the  great  increase  of  his 
cerebral  surface,  with  the  accompanying 
intelligence,  and  in  the  very  long  duration 
of  his  infancy.  These  two  things  have 
gone  hand  in  hand.  The  increase  of  cere- 
bral surface,  due  to  the  working  of  natural 
selection  in  this  direction  alone,  has  en- 
tailed a vast  increase  in  the  amount  of 
cerebral  organization  that  must  be  left  to 
be  completed  after  birth,  and  thus  has  pro- 
longed the  period  of  infancy.  And  con- 
versely the  prolonging  of  the  plastic  pe- 
riod of  infancy,  entailing  a vast  increase 
in  teachableness  and  versatility,  has  con- 
tributed to  the  further  enlargement  of  the 
cerebral  surface.  The  mutual  reaction  of 
these  two  groups  of  facts  must  have  gone 
on  for  an  enormous  length  of  time  since 
man  began  thus  diverging  from  his  simian 
brethren.  It  is  not  likely  that  less  than  a 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  55 

million  years  have  elapsed  since  the  first 
page  of  this  new  chapter  in  the  history  of 
creation  was  opened  : it  is  probable  that 
the  time  has  been  much  longer.  In  com- 
parison with  such  a period,  the  whole  re- 
corded duration  of  human  history  shrinks 
into  nothingness.  The  pyramids  of  Egypt 
seem  like  things  of  yesterday  when  we 
think  of  the  Cave-Men  of  western  Europe 
in  the  glacial  period,  who  scratched  pic- 
tures of  mammoths  on  pieces  of  reindeer- 
antler  with  a bit  of  pointed  flint.  Yet 
during  an  entire  geologic  aeon  before  these 
Cave-Men  appeared  on  the  scene,  “ a being 
erect  upon  two  legs,”  if  we  may  quote 
from  Serjeant  Buzfuz,  “and  wearing  the 
outward  semblance  of  a man  and  not  of  a 
monster,”  wandered  hither  and  thither 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  setting  his 
mark  upon  it  as  no  other  creature  yet  had 
done,  leaving  behind  him  innumerable 
tell-tale  remnants  of  his  fierce  and  squalid 
existence,  yet  too  scantily  endowed  with 
wit  to  make  any  written  disclosure  of  his 


56  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

thoughts  and  deeds.  If  the  physiological 
annals  of  that  long  and  weary  time  could 
now  be  unrolled  before  us,  the  principal 
fact  which  we  should  discern,  dominating 
all  other  facts  in  interest  and  significance, 
would  be  that  mutual  reaction  between  in- 
crease of  cerebral  surface  and  lengthening 
of  babyhood  which  I have  here  described. 

Thus  through  the  simple  continuance 
and  interaction  of  processes  that  began  far 
back  in  the  world  of  warm-blooded  animals, 
we  get  at  last  a creature  essentially  differ- 
ent from  all  others.  Through  the  compli- 
cation of  effects  the  heaping  up  of  minute 
differences  in  degree  has  ended  in  bring- 
ing forth  a difference  in  kind.  In  the  hu- 
man organism  physical  variation  has  well- 
nigh  stopped,  or  is  confined  to  insignificant 
features,  save  in  the  grey  surface  of  the 
cerebrum.  The  work  of  cerebral  organi- 
zation is  chiefly  completed  after  birth,  as 
we  see  by  contrasting  the  smooth  ape-like 
brain-surface  of  the  new-born  child  with 
the  deeply-furrowed  and  myriad-seamed 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  57 

surface  of  the  adult  civilized  brain.  The 
plastic  period  of  adolescence,  lengthened 
in  civilized  man  until  it  has  come  to  cover 
more  than  one  third  of  his  lifetime,  is  thus 
the  guaranty  of  his  boundless  progressive- 
ness. Inherited  tendencies  and  aptitudes 
still  form  the  foundations  of  character  ; but 
individual  experience  has  come  to  count  as 
an  enormous  factor  in  modifying  the  ca- 
reer of  mankind  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
difference  between  man  and  all  other  liv- 
ing creatures,  in  respect  of  teachableness, 
progressiveness,  and  individuality  of  char- 
acter, surpasses  all  other  differences  of 
kind  that  are  known  to  exist  in  the  uni- 
verse. 


VII. 

Change  in  the  Direction  of  the  Working  of 
Natural  Selection. 

N the  fresh  light  which  these  con- 
siderations throw  upon  the  prob- 
lem of  man’s  origin,  we  can  now 
see  more  clearly  than  ever  how  great  a 
revolution  was  inaugurated  when  natural 
selection  began  to  confine  its  operations 
to  the  surface  of  the  cerebrum.  Among 
the  older  incidents  in  the  evolution  of  or- 
ganic life,  the  changes  were  very  wonder- 
ful which  out  of  the  pectoral  fin  of  a fish 
developed  the  jointed  fore-limb  of  the 
mammal  with  its  five-toed  paw,  and  thence 
through  much  slighter  variation  brought 
forth  the  human  arm  with  its  delicate  and 
crafty  hand.  More  wondrous  still  were 
the  phases  of  change  through  which  the 
rudimentary  pigment-spot  of  the  worm,  by 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  59 

the  development  and  differentiation  of  suc- 
cessive layers,  gave  place  to  the  variously- 
constructed  eyes  of  insects,  mollusks,  and 
vertebrates.  The  day  for  creative  work 
of  this  sort  has  probably  gone  by,  as  the 
day  for  the  evolution  of  annulose  segments 
and  vertebrate  skeletons  has  gone  by,  — - 
on  our  planet,  at  least.  In  the  line  of  our 
own  development,  all  work  of  this  kind 
stopped  long  ago,  to  be  replaced  by  differ- 
ent methods.  As  an  optical  instrument, 
the  eye  had  well-nigh  reached  extreme  per- 
fection in  many  a bird  and  mammal  ages 
before  man’s  beginnings  ; and  the  essential 
features  of  the  human  hand  existed  already 
in  the  hands  of  Miocene  apes.  But  differ- 
ent methods  came  in  when  human  intelli- 
gence appeared  upon  the  scene.  Mr.  Spen- 
cer has  somewhere  reminded  us  that  the 
crowbar  is  but  an  extra  lever  added  to  the 
levers  of  which  the  arm  is  already  com- 
posed, and  the  telescope  but  adds  a new 
set  of  lenses  to  those  which  already  exist  in 
the  eye.  This  beautiful  illustration  goes  to 


6o  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

the  kernel  of  the  change  that  was  wrought 
when  natural  selection  began  to  confine  it- 
self to  the  psychical  modification  of  our  an- 
cestors. In  a very  deep  sense  all  human 
science  is  but  the  increment  of  the  power 
of  the  eye,  and  all  human  art  is  the  incre- 
ment of  the  power  of  the  hand.0  Vision 
and  manipulation,  — these,  in  their  count- 
less indirect  and  transfigured  forms,  are 
the  two  cooperating  factors  in  all  intellect- 
ual progress.  It  is  not  merely  that  with 
the  telescope  we  -see  extinct  volcanoes  on 
the  moon,  or  resolve  spots  of  nebulous 
cloud  into  clusters  of  blazing  suns  ; it  is 
that  in  every  scientific  theory  we  frame  by 
indirect  methods  visual  images  of  things 
not  present  to  sense.  With  our  mind’s 
eye  we  see  atmospheric  convulsions  on  the 
surfaces  of  distant  worlds,  watch  the  giant 
ichthyosaurs  splashing  in  Jurassic  oceans, 
follow  the  varied  figures  of  the  rhythmic 
dance  of  molecules  as  chemical  element? 
unite  and  separate,  or  examine,  with  th$ 
aid  of  long-forgotten  vocabularies  now 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  61 

magically  restored,  the  manners  and  mor- 
als, the  laws  and  superstitions,  of  peoples 
that  have  ceased  to  be.9  And  so  in  art  the 
wonderful  printing-press,  and  the  engine 
that  moves  it,  are  the  lineal  descendants 
through  countless  stages  of  complication, 
of  the  simple  levers  of  primitive  man  and 
the  rude  stylus  wherewith  he  engraved 
strange  hieroglyphs  on  the  bark  of  trees. 
In  such  ways,  since  the  human  phase  of 
evolution  began,  has  the  direct  action  of 
muscle  and  sense  been  supplemented  and 
superseded  by  the  indirect  work  of  the  in- 
quisitive and  inventive  mind. 


Growing  Predominance  of  the  Psychical  Life. 

nET  us  note  one  further  aspect  of 
this  mighty  revolution.  In  its 
lowly  beginnings  the  psychical 
life  was  merely  an  appendage  to  the  life 
of  the  body.  The  avoidance  of  enemies, 
the  securing  of  food,  the  perpetuation  of 
the  species,  make  up  the  whole  of  the 
lives  of  lower  animals,  and  the  rudiments 
of  memory,  reason,  emotion,  and  volition 
were  at  first  concerned  solely  with  the 
achievement  of  these  ends  in  an  increas- 
ingly indirect,  complex,  and  effective  way. 
Though  the  life  of  a large  portion  of  the 
human  race  is  still  confined  to  the  pursuit 
of  these  same  ends,  yet  so  vast  has  been 
the  increase  of  psychical  life  that  the 
simple  character  of  the  ends  is  liable  to  be 
lost  sight  of  amid  the  variety,  the  indirect- 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  63 

ness,  and  the  complexity  of  the  means. 
But  in  civilized  society  other  ends,  purely 
immaterial  in  their  nature,  have  come  to 
add  themselves  to  these,  and  in  some  in- 
stances to  take  their  place.  It  is  long 
since  we  were  told  that  Man  does  not  live 
by  bread  alone.  During  many  genera- 
tions we  have  seen  thousands  of  men,  ac- 
tuated by  the  noblest  impulse  of  which 
humanity  is  capable,  though  misled  by  the 
teachings  of  a crude  philosophy,  despising 
and  maltreating  their  bodies  as  clogs  and 
incumbrances  to  the  life  of  the  indwelling 
soul.  Countless  martyrs  we  have  seen 
throwing  away  the  physical  earthly  life  as 
so  much  worthless  dross,  and  all  for  the 
sake  of  purely  spiritual  truths.  As  with 
religion,  so  with  the  scientific  spirit  and 
the  artistic  spirit,  — the  unquenchable 
craving  to  know  the  secrets  of  nature,  and 
the  yearning  to  create  the  beautiful  in 
form  and  colour  and  sound.  In  the  high- 
est human  beings  such  ends  as  these  have 
come  to  be  uppermost  in  consciousness, 


6 4 The  Destiny  of  Man. 

and  with  the  progress  of  material  civiliza- 
tion this  will  be  more  and  more  the  case. 
If  we  can  imagine  a future  time  when  war- 
fare and  crime  shall  have  been  done  away 
with  forever,  when  disease  shall  have  been 
for  the  most  part  curbed,  and  when  every 
human  being  by  moderate  labour  can  se- 
cure ample  food  and  shelter,  we  can  also 
see  that  in  such  a state  of  things  the  work 
of  civilization  would  be  by  no  means  com- 
pleted. In  ministering  to  human  happi- 
ness in  countless  ways,  through  the  pur- 
suit of  purely  spiritual  ends,  in  enriching 
and  diversifying  life  to  the  utmost,  there 
would  still  be  almost  limitless  work  to 
be  done.  I believe  that  such  a time  will 
come  for  weary  and  suffering  mankind. 
Such  a faith  is  inspiring.  It  sustains  one 
in  the  work  of  life,  when  one  would  other- 
wise lose  heart.  But  it  is  a faith  that 
rests  upon  induction.  The  process  of  ev- 
olution is  excessively  slow,  and  its  ends 
are  achieved  at  the  cost  of  enormous  waste 
of  life,  but  for  innumerable  ages  its  direo 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  65 

tion  has  been  toward  the  goal  here  pointed 
out ; and  the  case  may  be  fitly  summed 
up  in  the  statement  that  whereas  in  its 
rude  beginnings  the  psychical  life  was  but 
an  appendage  to  the  body,  in  fully-devel-  l 
oped  Humanity  the  body  is  but  the  ve- 
hicle for  the  soul. 


IX. 

The  Origins  of  Society  and  of  Morality. 

NE  further  point  must  be  con* 
sidered  before  this  outline  sketch 
of  the  manner  of  man’s  origin 
can  be  called  complete.  The  psychical 
development  of  Humanity,  since  its  ear- 
lier stages,  has  been  largely  due  to  the 
reaction  of  individuals  upon  one  another 
in  those  various  relations  which  we  char- 
acterize as  social.10  In  considering  the 
origin  of  Man,  the  origin  of  human  soci- 
ety cannot  be  passed  over.  Foreshadow- 
ings of  social  relations  occur  in  the  animal 
world,  not  only  in  the  line  of  our  own  ver- 
tebrate ancestry,  but  in  certain  orders  of 
insects  which  stand  quite  remote  from 
that  line.  Many  of  the  higher  mammals 
are  gregarious,  and  this  is  especially  true 
of  that  whole  order  of  primates  to  which 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  6j 

we  belong.  Rudimentary  moral  senti- 
ments are  also  clearly  discernible  in  the 
highest  members  of  various  mammalian 
orders,  and  in  all  but  the  lowest  members 
of  our  own  order.  But  in  respect  of  defi- 
niteness and  permanence  the  relations  be- 
tween individuals  in  a state  of  gregarious- 
ness fall  far  short  of  the  relations  between 
individuals  in  the  rudest  human  society. 
The  primordial  unit  of  human  society  is 
the  family,  and  it  was  by  the  establish- 
ment of  definite  and  permanent  family 
relationships  that  the  step  was  taken 
which  raised  Man  socially  above  the  level 
of  gregarious  apehood.  This  great  point 
was  attained  through  that  lengthening  of 
the  period  of  helpless  childhood  which 
accompanied  the  gradually  increasing  in- 
telligence of  our  half  - human  ancestors. 
When  childhood  had  come  to  extend  over . 
a period  of  ten  or  a dozen  years  — a period 
which  would  be  doubled,  or  more  than 
doubled,  where  several  children  were  born 
in  succession  to  the  same  parents  — the 


68  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

relationships  between  father  and  mother, 
brethren  and  sisters,  must  have  become 
firmly  knit ; and  thus  the  family,  the  unit 
of  human  society,  gradually  came  into 
existence.11  The  rudimentary  growth  of 
moral  sentiment  must  now  have  received 
a definite  direction.  As  already  observed, 
with  the  beginnings  of  infancy  in  the 
animal  world  there  came  the  genesis  in 
the  parents  of  feelings  and  actions  not 
purely  self-regarding.  Rudimentary  sym- 
pathies, with  rudimentary  capacity  for 
self-devotion,  are  witnessed  now  and  then 
among  higher  mammals,  such  as  the  dog, 
and  not  uncommonly  among  apes.  But  as 
the  human  family,  with  its  definite  re- 
lationships, came  into  being,  there  must 
necessarily  have  grown  up  between  its 
various  members  reciprocal  necessities  of 
behaviour.  The  conduct  of  the  individual 
could  no  longer  be  shaped  with  sole  ref- 
erence to  his  own  selfish  desires,  but 
must  be  to  a great  extent  subordinated  to 
the  general  welfare  of  the  family.  And  in 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  6g 

judging  of  the  character  of  his  own  con- 
duct, the  individual  must  now  begin  to 
refer  it  to  some  law  of  things  outside  of 
himself ; and  hence  the  germs  of  con- 
science and  of  the  idea  of  duty.  Such 
were  no  doubt  the  crude  beginnings  of 
human  morality; 

With  this  genesis  of  the  family,  the 
Creation  of  Man  may  be  said,  in  a certain 
sense,  to  have  been  completed.  The  great 
extent  of  cerebral  surface,  the  lengthened 
period  of  infancy,  the  consequent  capacity 
for  progress,  the  definite  constitution  of 
the  family,  and  the  judgment  of  actions 
as  good  or  bad  according  to  some  other 
standard  than  that  of  selfish  desire,  — ~ 
these  are  the  attributes  which  essentially 
distinguish  Man  from  other  creatures.  All 
these,  we  see,  are  direct  or  indirect  results 
of  the  revolution  which  began  when  natu- 
ral selection  came  to  confine  itself  to  psy- 
chical variations,  to  the  neglect  of  physi- 
cal variations.  The  immediate  result  was 
the  increase  of  cerebrum.  This  prolonged 


jo  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

the  infancy,  thus  giving  rise  to  the  capac- 
ity for  progress  ; and  infancy,  in  turn,  orig- 
inated the  family  and  thus  opened  the  way 
for  the  growth  of  sympathies  and  of  eth- 
ical feelings.  All  these  results  have  per- 
petually reacted  upon  one  another  until  a 
creature  different  in  kind  from  all  other 
creatures  has  been  evolved.  The  creature 
thus  evolved  long  since  became  dominant 
over  the  earth  in  a sense  in  which  none  of 
his  predecessors  ever  became  dominant  ; 
and  henceforth  the  work  of  evolution,  so 
far  as  our  planet  is  concerned,  is  chiefly 
devoted  to  the  perfecting  of  this  last  and 
most  wonderful  product  of  creative  energy. 


X. 

Improvableness  of  Man. 

OR  the  creation  of  Man  was  by  no 
means  the  creation  of  a perfect  be- 
ing. The  most  essential  feature  of 
Man  is  his  improvableness,  and  since  his 
first  appearance  on  the  earth  the  changes 
that  have  gone  on  in  him  have  been  enor- 
mous, though  they  have  continued  to  run 
along  in  the  lines  of  development  that 
were  then  marked  out.  The  changes  have 
been  so  great  that  in  many  respects  the 
interval  between  the  highest  and  the  low- 
est men  far  surpasses  quantitatively  the 
interval  between  the  lowest  men  and 
the  highest  apes.  If  we  take  into  ac- 
count the  creasing  of  the  cerebral  surface, 
the  difference  between  the  brain  of  a 
Shakespeare  and  that  of  an  Australian 
savage  would  doubtless  be  fifty  times 


72  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

greater  than  the  difference  between  the 
Australian’s  brain  and  that  of  an  orang- 
outang. In  mathematical  capacity  the 
Australian,  who  cannot  tell  the  number  of 
fingers  on  his  two  hands,  is  much  nearer 
to  a lion  or  wolf  than  to  Sir  Rowan  Ham- 
ilton, who  invented  the  method  of  quater- 
nions. In  moral  development  this  same 
Australian,  whose  language  contains  no 
words  for  justice  and  benevolence,  is  less 
remote  from  dogs  and  baboons  than  from 
a Howard  or  a Garrison.  In  progressive- 
ness, too,  the  difference  between  the  low- 
est and  the  highest  races  of  men  is  no  less 
conspicuous.  The  Australian  is  more 
teachable  than  the  ape,  but  his  limit  is 
nevertheless  very  quickly  reached.  All  the 
distinctive  attributes  of  Man,  in  short, 
have  been  developed  to  an  enormous  ex- 
tent through  long  ages  of  social  evolution. 

This  psychical  development  of  Man  is 
destined  to  go  on  in  the  future  as  it  has 
gone  on  in  the  past.  The  creative  energy 
which  has  been  at  work  through  the  bygone 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  73 

eternity  is  not  going  to  become  quiescent 
to-morrow.  We  have  learned  something  of 
its  methods  of  working,  and  from  the  care- 
ful observation  of  the  past  we  can  foresee 
the  future  in  some  of  its  most  general  out- 
lines* From  what  has  already  gone  on  dur- 
ing the  historic  period  of  man’s  existence, 
we  can  safely  predict  a change  that  will 
by  and  by  distinguish  him  from  all  other 
creatures  even  more  widely  and  more  fun- 
damentally than  he  is  distinguished  to- 
day. Whenever  in  the  course  of  organic 
evolution  we  see  any  function  beginning 
as  incidental  to  the  performance  of  other 
functions,  and  continuing  for  many  ages  to 
increase  in  importance  until  it  becomes  an 
indispensable  strand  in  the  web  of  life,  we 
may  be  sure  that  by  a continuance  of  the 
same  process  its  influence  is  destined  to 
increase  still  more  in  the  future.  Such  has 
been  the  case  with  the  function  of  sympa- 
thy, and  with  the  ethical  feelings  which 
have  grown  up  along  with  sympathy  and 
depend  largely  upon  it  for  their  vitality. 


74  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

Like  everything  else  which  especially  dis- 
tinguishes Man,  the  altruistic  feelings  were 
first  called  into  existence  through  the  first 
beginnings  of  infancy  in  the  animal  world. 
Their  rudimentary  form  was  that  of  the 
transient  affection  of  a female  bird  or 
mammal  for  its  young.  First  given  a defi- 
nite direction  through  the  genesis  of  the 
primitive  human  family,  the  development 
of  altruism  has  formed  an  important  part 
of  the  progress  of  civilization,  but  as  yet  it 
has  scarcely  kept  pace  with  the  general  de- 
velopment of  intelligence.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  in  respect  of  justice  and 
kindness  the  advance  of  civilized  man  has 
been  less  marked  than  in  respect  of  quick- 
wittedness. Now  this  is  because  the  ad- 
vancement of  civilized  man  has  been 
largely  effected  through  fighting,  through 
the  continuance  of  that  deadly  struggle 
and  competition  which  has  been  going  on 
ever  since  organic  life  first  appeared  on 
the  earth.  It  is  through  such  fierce  and 
perpetual  struggle  that  the  higher  forms  of 


75 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

iife  have  been  gradually  evolved  by  natural 
selection.  But  we  have  already  seen  how 
in  many  respects  the  evolution  of  Man  was 
the  opening  of  an  entirely  new  chapter  in 
the  history  of  the  universe.  In  no  respect 
was  it  more  so  than  in  the  genesis  of  the 
altruistic  emotions.  For  when  natural  se- 
lection, through  the  lengthening  of  child- 
hood, had  secured  a determinate  develop- 
ment for  this  class  of  human  feelings,  it 
had  at  last  originated  a power  which  could 
thrive  only  through  the  elimination  of 
strife.  And  the  later  history  of  mankind, 
during  the  past  thirty  centuries,  has  been 
characterized  by  the  gradual  eliminating 
of  strife,  though  the  process  has  gone  on 
with  the  extreme  slowness  that  marks  all 
the  work  of  evolution.  It  is  only  at  the 
present  day  that,  by  surveying  human  his- 
tory from  the  widest  possible  outlook,  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  habits  of  thought  which 
the  study  of  evolution  fosters,  we  are  en- 
abled distinctly  to  observe  this  tendency. 
As  this  is  the  most  wonderful  of  all  the 


76  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

phases  of  that  stupendous  revolution  in 
nature  which  was  inaugurated  in  the  Crea- 
tion of  Man,  it  deserves  especial  atten- 
tion here ; and  we  shall  find  it  leading  us 
quite  directly  to  our  conclusion.  From 
the  Origin  of  Man,  when  thoroughly  com- 
prehended in  its  general  outlines,  we  shall 
at  length  be  able  to  catch  some  glimpses 
of  his  Destiny. 


XI. 

Universal  Warfare  of  Primeval  Men. 

N speaking  of  the  higher  altruistic 
feelings  as  being  antagonistic  to 
the  continuance  of  warfare,  I did 
not  mean  to  imply  that  warfare  can  ever 
be  directly  put  down  by  our  horror  of  cru- 
elty or  our  moral  disapproval  of  strife. 
The  actual  process  is  much  more  indirect 
and  complex  than  this.  In  respect  of 
belligerency  the  earliest  men  were  doubt- 
less no  better  than  brutes.  They  were 
simply  the  most  crafty  and  formidable 
among  brutes.  To  get  food  was  the  prime 
necessity  of  life,  and  as  long  as  food  was 
obtainable  only  by  hunting  and  fishing, 
or  otherwise  seizing  upon  edible  objects 
already  in  existence,  chronic  and  universal 
quarrel  was  inevitable.  The  conditions  of 
the  struggle  for  existence  were  not  yet 


j8  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

visibly  changed  from  what  they  had  been 
from  the  outset  in  the  animal  world. 
That  struggle  meant  everlasting  slaughter, 
and  the  fiercest  races  of  fighters  would  be 
just  the  ones  to  survive  and  perpetuate 
their  kind.  Those  most  successful  primi- 
tive men,  from  whom  civilized  peoples  are 
descended,  must  have  excelled  in  treach- 
ery and  cruelty,  as  in  quickness  of  wit  and 
strength  of  will.  That  moral  sense  which 
makes  it  seem  wicked  to  steal  and  murder 
was  scarcely  more  developed  in  them  than 
in  tigers  or  wolves.  But  to  all  this  there 
was  one  exception.  The  family  supplied 
motives  for  peaceful  cooperation.12  With- 
in the  family  limits  fidelity  and  forbear- 
ance had  their  uses,  for  events  could  not 
have  been  long  in  showing  that  the  most 
coherent  families  would  prevail  over  their 
less  coherent  rivals.  Observation  of  the 
most  savage  races  agrees  with  the  compar- 
ative study  of  the  institutions  of  civilized 
peoples,  in  proving  that  the  only  bond  of 
political  union  recognized  among  primitive 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  79 

men,  or  conceivable  by  them,  was  the 
physical  fact  of  blood-relationship.  Illus- 
trations of  this  are  found  in  plenty  far 
within  the  historic  period.  The  very 
township,  which  under  one  name  or  an- 
other has  formed  the  unit  of  political 
society  among  all  civilized  peoples,  was 
originally  the  stockaded  dwelling-place  of 
a clan  which  traced  its  blood  to  a common 
ancestor.  In  such  a condition  of  things 
the  nearest  approach  ever  made  to  peace 
was  a state  of  armed  truce  ; and  while  the 
simple  rules  of  morality  were  recognized, 
they  were  only  regarded  as  binding  within 
the  limits  of  the  clan.  There  was  no  rec- 
ognition of  the  wickedness  of  robbery  and 
murder  in  general. 

This  state  of  things,  as  above  hinted, 
could  not  come  to  an  end  as  long  as  men 
obtained  food  by  seizing  upon  edible  ob- 
jects already  in  existence.  The  supply  of 
fish,  game,  or  fruit  being  strictly  limited, 
men  must  ordinarily  fight  under  penalty  of 
starvation.  If  we  could  put  a moral  inter- 


80  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

pretation  upon  events  which  antedated 
morality  as  we  understand  it,  we  should 
say  it  was  their  duty  to  fight ; and  the  rev- 
erence accorded  to  the  chieftain  who  mur- 
dered most  successfully  in  behalf  of  his 
clansmen  was  well  deserved.  It  is  worthy 
of  note  that,  in  isolated  parts  of  the  earth 
where  the  natural  supply  of  food  is  abun- 
dant, as  in  sundry  tropical  islands  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  men  have  ceased  from  war- 
fare and  become  gentle  and  docile  without 
rising  above  the  intellectual  level  of  sav- 
agery. Compared  with  other  savages,  they 
are  like  the  chimpanzee  as  contrasted  with 
the  gorilla.  Such  exceptional  instances 
well  illustrate  the  general  truth  that,  so 
long  as  the  method  of  obtaining  food  was 
the  same  as  that  employed  by  brute  ani- 
mals, men  must  continue  to  fight  like  dogs 
over  a bone. 


XII. 


First  checked  by  the  Beginnings  of  Industrial 
Civilisation. 

UT  presently  man’s  superior  intel- 
ligence came  into  play  in  such 
wise  that  other  and  better  meth- 
ods of  getting  food  were  devised.  When 
in  intervals  of  peace  men  learned  to  rear 
flocks  and  herds,  and  to  till  the  ground, 
and  when  they  had  further  learned  to  ex- 
change with  one  another  the  products  of 
their  labour,  a new  step,  of  most  profound 
significance,  was  taken.  Tribes  which 
had  once  learned  how  to  do  these  things 
were  not  long  in  overcoming  their  neigh- 
bours, and  flourishing  at  their  expense,  for 
agriculture  allows  a vastly  greater  popula- 
tion to  live  upon  a given  area,  and  in 
many  ways  it  favours  social  compactness. 
An  immense  series  of  social  changes  was 
6 


82  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

now  begun.  Whereas  the  only  conceiva- 
ble bond  of  political  combination  had  here- 
tofore been  blood-relationship,  a new  basis 
was  now  furnished  by  territorial  conti- 
guity and  by  community  of  occupation. 
The  supply  of  food  was  no  longer  strictly 
limited,  for  it  could  be  indefinitely  in- 
creased by  peaceful  industry ; and  more- 
over, in  the  free  exchange  of  the  products 
of  labour,  it  ceased  to  be  true  that  one 
man’s  interest  was  opposed  to  another’s. 
Men  did  not  at  once  recognize  this  fact, 
and  indeed  it  has  not  yet  become  univer- 
sally recognized,  so  long  have  men  per- 
sisted in  interpreting  the  conditions  of 
industrial  life  in  accordance  with  the  im- 
memorial traditions  of  the  time  when  the 
means  of  subsistence  were  strictly  limited, 
so  that  one  man’s  success  meant  another’s 
starvation.  Our  robber  tariffs  — miscalled 
“ protective  ” — are  survivals  of  the  bar- 
barous mode  of  thinking  which  fitted  the 
ages  before  industrial  civilization  began. 
But  although  the  pacific  implications  of 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  83 

free  exchange  were  very  slowly  recog- 
nized, it  is  not  the  less  true  that  the  be- 
ginnings of  agriculture  and  commerce 
marked  the  beginnings  of  the  greatest 
social  revolution  in  the  whole  career 
of  mankind.  Henceforth  the  conditions 
for  the  maintenance  of  physical  life  be- 
came different  from  what  they  had  been 
throughout  the  past  history  of  the  animal 
world.  It  was  no  longer  necessary  for 
men  to  quarrel  for  their  food  like  dogs 
over  a bone  ; for  they  could  now  obtain  it 
far  more  effectively  by  applying  their 
intelligence  to  the  task  of  utilizing  the 
forces  of  inanimate  nature  ; and  the  due 
execution  of  such  a task  was  in  no  wise 
assisted  by  wrath  and  contention,  but 
from  the  outset  was  rather  hindered  by 
such  things. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  of  industrial 
civilization.  Out  of  its  exigencies,  con-^ 
tinually  increasing  in  complexity,  have 
proceeded,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  arts 
and  sciences  which  have  given  to  modern 


84  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

life  so  much  of  its  interest  and  value.  But 
more  important  still  has  been  the  work  of 
industrial  civilization  in  the  ethical  field. 
By  furnishing  a wider  basis  for  political 
union  than  mere  blood -relationship,  it 
greatly  extended  the  area  within  which 
moral  obligations  were  recognized  as  bind- 
ing. At  first  confined  to  the  clan,  the 
idea  of  duty  came  at  length  to  extend 
throughout  a state  in  which  many  clans 
were  combined  and  fused,  and  as  it  thus 
increased  in  generality  and  abstractness, 
the  idea  became  immeasurably  strength- 
ened and  ennobled.  At  last,  with  the  rise 
of  empires,  in  which  many  states  were 
brought  together  in  pacific  industrial  re- 
lations, the  recognized  sphere  of  moral  ob- 
ligation became  enlarged  until  it  compre- 
hended all  mankind. 


XIII. 


Methods  of  Political  Development,  and  Elimi- 
nation of  Warfare. 

HIS  rise  of  empires,  this  coales- 
cence of  small  groups  of  men  into 
larger  and  larger  political  aggre- 
gates, has  been  the  chief  work  of  civil- 
ization, when  looked  at  on  its  political 
side.13  Like  all  the  work  of  evolution,  this 
process  has  gone  on  irregularly  and  inter- 
mittently, and  its  ultimate  tendency  has 
only  gradually  become  apparent.  This 
process  of  coalescence  has  from  the  outset 
been  brought  about  by  the  needs  of  in- 
dustrial civilization,  and  the  chief  obstacle 
which  it  has  had  to  encounter  has  been 
the  universal  hostility  and  warfare  be- 
queathed from  primeval  times.  The  his- 
tory of  mankind  has  been  largely  made  up 
of  fighting,  but  in  the  careers  of  the  most 


86  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

progressive  races  this  fighting  has  been 
far  from  meaningless,  like  the  battles  of 
kites  and  crows.  In  the  stream  of  history 
which,  beginning  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  has  widened  until  in 
our  day  it  covers  both  sides  of  the  At- 
lantic and  is  fast  extending  over  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  earth,  — in  this  main 
stream  of  history  the  warfare  which  has 
gone  on  has  had  a clearly  discernible  pur- 
pose and  meaning.  Broadly  considered, 
this  warfare  has  been  chiefly  the  struggle 
of  the  higher  industrial  civilization  in  de- 
fending itself  against  the  attacks  of  neigh- 
bours who  had  not  advanced  beyond  that 
early  stage  of  humanity  in  which  warfare 
was  chronic  and  normal.  During  the  his- 
toric period,  the  wars  of  Europe  have  been 
either  contests  between  the  industrial  and 
the  predatory  types  of  society,  or  contests 
incident  upon  the  imperfect  formation  of 
large  political  aggregates.  There  have 
been  three  ways  in  which  great  political 
bodies  have  arisen.  The  earliest  and  low- 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  8y 

est  method  was  that  of  conquest  without 
incorporation.  A single  powerful  tribe  con- 
quered and  annexed  its  neighbours  with- 
out admitting  them  to  a share  in  the  gov- 
ernment. It  appropriated  their  military 
strength,  robbed  them  of  most  of  the 
fruits  of  their  labour,  and  thus  virtually 
enslaved  them.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
great  despotic  empires  of  Oriental  type. 
Such  states  degenerate  rapidly  in  military 
strength.  Their  slavish  populations,  ac- 
customed to  be  starved  and  beaten  or  mas- 
sacred by  the  tax-gatherer,  become  unable 
to  fight,  so  that  great  armies  of  them  will 
flee  before  a handful  of  freemen,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  ancient  Persians  and  the  mod- 
ern Egyptians.  To  strike  down  the  ex- 
ecutive head  of  such  an  assemblage  of  en- 
slaved tribes  is  to  effect  the  conquest  or 
the  dissolution  of  the  whole  mass,  and 
hence  the  history  of  Eastern  peoples  has 
been  characterized  by  sudden  and  gigantic 
revolutions. 

The  second  method  of  forming  great 


88  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

political  bodies  was  that  of  conquest  with 
incorporation.  The  conquering  tribe,  while 
annexing  its  neighbours,  gradually  admit- 
ted them  to  a share  in  the  government. 
In  this  way  arose  the  Roman  empire,  the 
largest,  the  most  stable,  and  in  its  best 
days  the  most  pacific  political  aggregate 
the  world  had  as  yet  seen.  Throughout 
the  best  part  of  Europe,  its  conquests  suc- 
ceeded in  transforming  the  ancient  preda- 
tory type  of  society  into  the  modern  in- 
dustrial type.  It  effectually  broke  up  the 
primeval  clan-system,  with  its  narrow  ethi- 
cal ideas,  and  arrived  at  the  broad  concep- 
tion of  rights  and  duties  coextensive  with 
Humanity.  But  in  the  method  upon  which 
Rome  proceeded  there  was  an  essential 
element  of  weakness.  The  simple  device 
of  representation,  by  which  political  power 
is  equally  retained  in  all  parts  of  the  com- 
munity while  its  exercise  is  delegated  to  a 
central  body,  was  entirely  unknown  to  the 
Romans.  Partly  for  this  reason,  and  partly 
because  of  the  terrible  military  pressure  to 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  8g 

which  the  frontier  was  perpetually  ex- 
posed, the  Roman  government  became  a 
despotism  which  gradually  took  on  many 
of  the  vices  of  the  Oriental  type.  The 
political  weakness  which  resulted  from  this 
allowed  Europe  to  be  overrun  by  peoples 
organized  in  clans  and  tribes,  and  for 
some  time  there  was  a partial  retrogres- 
sion toward  the  disorder  characteristic  of 
primitive  ages.  The  retrogression  was  but 
partial  and  temporary,  however ; the  ex- 
posed frontier  has  been  steadily  pushed 
eastward  into  the  heart  of  Asia  ; the  in- 
dustrial type  of  society  is  no  longer  men- 
aced by  the  predatory  type;  the  primeval 
clan-system  has  entirely  disappeared  as  a 
social  force ; and  warfare,  once  ubiquitous 
and  chronic,  has  become  local  and  occa= 
sional. 

The  third  and  highest  method  of  form- 
ing great  political  bodies  is  that  of  federa- 
tion. The  element  of  fighting  was  essen- 
tial in  the  two  lower  methods,  but  in  this 
it  is  not  essential.  Here  there  is  no  con- 


90 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

quest,  but  a voluntary  union  of  small  po- 
litical groups  into  a great  political  group. 
Each  little  group  preserves  its  local  inde- 
pendence intact,  while  forming  part  of  an 
indissoluble  whole.  Obviously  this  method 
of  political  union  requires  both  high  in- 
telligence and  high  ethical  development. 
In  early  times  it  was  impracticable.  It 
was  first  attempted,  with  brilliant  though 
ephemeral  success,  by  the  Greeks,  but  it 
failed  for  want  of  the  device  of  representa- 
tion. In  later  times  it  was  put  into  opera- 
tion, with  permanent  success,  on  a small 
scale  by  the  Swiss,  and  on  a great  scale 
by  our  forefathers  in  England.  The  co- 
alescence of  shires  into  the  kingdom  of 
England,  effected  as  it  was  by  means  of 
a representative  assembly,  and  accompa- 
nied by  the  general  retention  of  local 
self-government,  afforded  a distinct  pre- 
cedent for  such  a gigantic  federal  union 
as  men  of  English  race  have  since  con- 
structed in  America.  The  principle  of 
federation  was  there,  though  not  the  name. 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  gi 

And  here  we  hit  upon  the  fundamental 
contrast  between  the  history  of  England 
and  that  of  France.  The  method  by  which 
the  modern  French  nation  has  been  built 
up  has  been  the  Roman  method  of  con- 
quest with  incorporation.  As  the  ruler  of 
Paris  gradually  overcame  his  vassals,  one 
after  another,  by  warfare  or  diplomacy,  he 
annexed  their  counties  to  his  royal  do- 
main, and  governed  them  by  lieutenants 
sent  from  Paris.  Self-government  was  thus 
crushed  out  in  France,  while  it  was  pre- 
served in  England.  And  just  as  Rome 
achieved  its  unprecedented  dominion  by 
adopting  a political  method  more  effective 
than  any  that  had  been  hitherto  employed, 
so  England,  employing  for  the  first  time 
a still  higher  and  more  effective  method, 
has  come  to  play  a part  in  the  world  com- 
pared with  which  even  the  part  played  by 
Rome  seems  insignificant.  The  test  of 
the  relative  strength  of  the  English  and 
Roman  methods  came  when  England  and 
France  contended  for  the  possession  of 


92  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

North  America.  The  people  which  pre- 
served its  self-government  could  send  forth 
self-supporting  colonies  ; the  people  which 
had  lost  the  very  tradition  of  self-govern- 
ment could  not.  Hence  the  dominion  of 
the  sea,  with  that  of  all  the  outlying  parts 
of  the  earth,  fell  into  the  hands  of  men  of 
English  race ; and  hence  the  federative 
method  of  political  union  — the  method 
which  contains  every  element  of  perma- 
nence, and  which  is  pacific  in  its  very  con- 
ception — is  already  assuming  a sway 
which  is  unquestionably  destined  to  be- 
come universal. 

Bearing  all  this  in  mind,  we  cannot  fail 
to  recognize  the  truth  of  the  statement 
that  the  great  wars  of  the  historic  period 
have  been  either  contests  between  the  in- 
dustrial and  the  predatory  types  of  society 
or  contests  incident  upon  the  imperfect 
formation  of  great  political  aggregates. 
Throughout  the  turmoil  of  the  historic 
period — which  on  a superficial  view  seems 
such  a chaos  — we  see  certain  definite 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  93 

tendencies  at  work ; the  tendency  toward 
the  formation  of  larger  and  larger  political 
aggregates,  and  toward  the  more  perfect 
maintenance  of  local  self-government  and 
individual  freedom  among  the  parts  of  the 
aggregate?  This  two-sided  process  began 
with  the  beginnings  of  industrial  civiliza- 
tion  ; it  has  aided  the  progress  of  industry 
and  been  aided  by  it ; and  the  result  has 
been  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  warfare, 
and  to  lessen  the  number  of  points  at 
which  it  touches  the  ordinary  course  of 
civilized  life.  With  the  further  continu- 
ance of  this  process,  but  one  ultimate  re- 
sult is  possible.  It  must  go  on  until  war- 
fare becomes  obsolete.  The  nineteenth 
century,  which  has  witnessed  an  unpre- 
cedented development  of  industrial  civiliza- 
tion, with  its  attendant  arts  and  sciences, 
has  also  witnessed  an  unprecedented  dimi- 
nution in  the  strength  of  the  primeval 
spirit  of  militancy.  It  is  not  that  we  have 
got  rid  of  great  wars,  but  that  the  relative 
proportion  of  human  strength  which  has 


94  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

been  employed  in  warfare  has  been  re- 
markably less  than  in  any  previous  age. 
In  our  own  history,  of  the  two  really  great 
wars  which  have  permeated  our  whole 
social  existence,  — the  Revolutionary  War 
and  the  War  of  Secession,  — the  first  was 
fought  in  behalf  of  the  pacific  principle 
of  equal  representation  ; the  second  was 
fought  in  behalf  of  the  pacific  principle 
of  federalism.  In  each  case,  the  victory 
helped  to  hasten  the  day  when  warfare 
shall  become  unnecessary.  In  the  few 
great  wars  of  Europe  since  the  overthrow 
of  Napoleon,  we  may  see  the  same  prin- 
ciple at  work.  In  almost  every  case  the 
result  has  been  to  strengthen  the  pacific 
tendencies  of  modern  society  Whereas 
warfare  was  once  dominant  ovei  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  came  home  in  all  its  horrid 
details  to  everybody’s  door,  and  threatened 
the  very  existence  of  industrial  civiliza- 
tion ; it  has  now  become  narrowly  confined 
in  time  and  space,  it  no  longer  comes 
home  to  everybody’s  door,  and,  in  so  far 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  95 

as  it  is  still  tolerated,  for  want  of  a bet- 
ter method  of  settling  grave  international 
questions,  it  has  become  quite  ancillary  to 
the  paramount  needs  of  industrial  civiliza- 
tion. When  we  can  see  so  much  as  this 
lying  before  us  on  the  pages  of  history,  we 
cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  final  extinc- 
tion of  warfare  is  only  a question  of  time. 
Sooner  or  later  it  must  come  to  an  end, 
and  the  pacific  principle  of  federalism, 
whereby  questions  between  states  are  set- 
tled, like  questions  between  individuals, 
by  due  process  of  law,  must  reign  supreme 
over  all  the  earth. 


End  of  the  Working  of  Natural  Selection  upon 
Man . Throwing  off  the  Brute-Inheritance. 

S regards  the  significance  of  Man’s 
position  in  the  universe,  this  grad- 
ual elimination  of  strife  is  a fact 
of  utterly  unparalleled  grandeur.  Words 
cannot  do  justice  to  such  a fact.  It  means 
that  the  wholesale  destruction  of  life, 
which  has  heretofore  characterized  evolu- 
tion ever  since  life  began,  and  through 
which  the  higher  forms  of  organic  ex- 
istence have  been  produced,  must  pres- 
ently come  to  an  end  in  the  case  of  the 
chief  of  God’s  creatures.  It  means  that 
the  universal  struggle  for  existence,  hav- 
ing succeeded  in  bringing  forth  that  con- 
summate product  of  creative  energy,  the 
Human  Soul,  has  done  its  work  and  will 
presently  cease.  In  the  lower  regions  of 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  gy 

organic  life  it  must  go  on,  but  as  a deter- 
mining factor  in  the  highest  work  of  evo- 
lution it  will  disappear. 

The  action  of  natural  selection  upon 
Man  has  long  since  been  essentially  di- 
minished through  the  operation  of  social 
conditions.  For  in  all  grades  of  civili- 
zation above  the  lowest,  “ there  are  so 
many  kinds  of  superiorities  which  sever- 
ally enable  men  to  survive,  notwithstand- 
ing accompanying  inferiorities,  that  natural 
selection  cannot  by  itself  rectify  any  par- 
ticular unfitness.”  In  a race  of  inferior 
animals  any  maladjustment  is  quickly  re- 
moved by  natural  selection,  because,  owing 
to  the  universal  slaughter,  the  highest 
completeness  of  life  possible  to  a given 
grade  of  organization  is  required  for  the 
mere  maintenance  of  life.  But  under  the 
conditions  surrounding  human  develop- 
ment it  is  otherwise.14  There  is  a wide 
interval  between  the  highest  and  lowest 
degrees  of  completeness  of  living  that 
are  compatible  with  maintenance  of  life. 


7 


p8  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

Hence  the  wicked  flourish.  Vice  is  but 
slowly  eliminated,  because  mankind  has  so 
many  other  qualities,  beside  the  bad  ones, 
which  enable  it  to  subsist  and  achieve 
progress  in  spite  of  them,  that  natural 
selection  — which  always  works  through  4 
death  — cannot  come  into  play.  The  im- 
provement of  civilized  man  goes  on  main- 
ly through  processes  of  direct  adaptation. 
The  principle  in  accordance  with  which  the 
gloved  hand  of  the  dandy  becomes  white 
and  soft  while  the  hand  of  the  labouring 
man  grows  brown  and  tough  is  the  main 
principle  at  work  in  the  improvement  of 
Humanity.  Our  intellectual  faculties,  our 
passions  and  prejudices,  our  tastes  and 
habits,  become  strengthened  by  use  and 
weakened  by  disuse,  just  as  the  black- 
smith’s arm  grows  strong  and  the  horse 
turned  out  to  pasture  becomes  unfit  for 
work.  This  law  of  use  and  disuse  has 
been  of  immense  importance  throughout 
the  whole  evolution  of  organic  life.  With 
Man  it  has  come  to  be  paramount. 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  gg 

If  now  we  contrast  the  civilized  man  in- 
tellectually and  morally  with  the  savage, 
we  find  that,  along  with  his  vast  increase 
of  cerebral  surface,  he  has  an  immensely 
greater  power  of  representing  in  imagina- 
tion objects  and  relations  not  present  toN 
the  senses.  This  is  the  fundamental  in- 
tellectual difference  between  civilized  men 
and  savages.15  The  power  of  imagina- 
tion, or  ideal  representation,  underlies  the 
whole  of  science  and  art,  and  it  is  closely 
connected  with  the  ability  to  work  hard 
and  submit  to  present  discomfort  for  the 
sake  of  a distant  reward.  It  is  also  closely 
connected  with  the  development  of  the 
sympathetic  feelings.  The  better  we  can^. 
imagine  objects  and  relations  not  pres- 
ent to  sense,  the  more  readily  we  can 
sympathize  with  other  people.  Half  the 
cruelty  in  the  world  is  the  direct  result  of 
stupid  incapacity  to  put  one’s  self  in  the 
other  man’s  place.  So  closely  inter-related 
are  our  intellectual  and  moral  natures  that 
the  development  of  sympathy  is  very  con- 


wo 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

siderably  determined  by  increasing  width 
and  variety  of  experience.  From  the 
simplest  form  of  sympathy,  such  as  the 
painful  thrill  felt  on  seeing  some  one  in  a 
dangerous  position,  up  to  the  elaborate 
complication  of  altruistic  feelings  involved 
in  the  notion  of  abstract  justice,  the  de- 
velopment is  very  largely  a development 
of  the  representative  faculty.  The  very 
same  causes,  therefore,  deeply  grounded 
in  the  nature  of  industrial  civilization, 
which  have  developed  science  and  art, 
have  also  had  a distinct  tendency  to  en- 
courage the  growth  of  the  sympathetic 
emotions. 

But,  as  already  observed,  these  emotions 
are  still  too  feebly  developed,  even  in  the 
highest  races  of  men.  We  have  made 
more  progress  in  intelligence  than  in 
kindness.  For  thousands  of  generations, 
and  until  very  recent  times,  one  of  the 
chief  occupations  of  men  has  been  to  plun- 
der, bruise,  and  kill  one  another.  The 
selfish  and  ugly  passions  which  are  pri- 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  ioi 

mordial  — which  have  the  incalculable 
strength  of  inheritance  from  the  time  when 
animal  consciousness  began  — have  had  f 
but  little  opportunity  to  grow  weak  from 
disuse.  The  tender  and  unselfish  feelings,  > 
which  are  a later  product  of  evolution,  have 
too  seldom  been  allowed  to  grow  strong 
from  exercise.  And  the  whims  and  prej- 
udices of  the  primeval  militant  barbarism 
are  slow  in  dying  out  from  the  midst  of 
peaceful  industrial  civilization.  The  coarser 
forms  of  cruelty  are  disappearing,  and  the 
butchery  of  men  has  greatly  diminished. 
But  most  people  apply  to  industrial  pur- 
suits a notion  of  antagonism  derived  from 
ages  of  warfare,  and  seek  in  all  manner  of 
ways  to  cheat  or  overreach  one  another. 
And  as  in  more  barbarous  times  the  hero 
was  he  who  had  slain  his  tens  of  thou- 
sands, so  now  the  man  who  has  made 
wealth  by  overreaching  his  neighbours 
is  not  uncommonly  spoken  of  in  terms 
which  imply  approval.  Though  gentle- 
men, moreover,  no  longer  assail  one  an- 


102 


The  Destiny  of  Man. 

other  with  knives  and  clubs,  they  still  in- 
flict wounds  with  cruel  words  and  sneers. 
Though  the  free  - thinker  is  no  longer 
chained  to  a stake  and  burned,  people  still 
tell  lies  about  him,  and  do  their  best  to 
starve  him  by  hurting  his  reputation.  The 
virtues  of  forbearance  and  self-control  are 
still  in  a very  rudimentary  state,  and  of 
mutual  helpfulness  there  is  far  too  little 
among  men. 

Nevertheless  in  all  these  respects  some 
improvement  has  been  made,  along  with 
the  diminution  of  warfare,  and  by  the 
time  warfare  has  not  merely  ceased  from 
the  earth  but  has  come  to  be  the  dimly 
remembered  phantom  of  a remote  past, 
the  development  of  the  sympathetic  side 
of  human  nature  will  doubtless  become 
prodigious.  The  manifestation  of  selfish 
and  hateful  feelings  will  be  more  and  more 
sternly  repressed  by  public  opinion,  and 
such  feelings  will  become  weakened  by 
disuse,  while  the  sympathetic  feelings  will 
increase  in  strength  as  the  sphere  for 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  103 

their  exercise  is  enlarged.  And  thus  at 
length  we  see  what  human  progress  means. 
It  means  throwing  off  the  brute-inherit- 
ance, — gradually  throwing  it  off  through 
ages  of  struggle  that  are  by  and  by  to 
make  struggle  needless.  Man  is  slowly 
passing  from  a primitive  social  state  in 
which  he  was  little  better  than  a brute, 
toward  an  ultimate  social  state  in  which 
his  character  shall  have  become  so  trans- 
formed that  nothing  of  the  brute  can  be  de- 
tected in  it.  The  ape  and  the  tiger  in  hu- 
man nature  will  become  extinct.  Theology 
has  had  much  to  say  about  original  sin. 
This  original  sin  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  brute -inheritance  which  every 
man  carries  with  him,  and  the  process  of 
evolution  is  an  advance  toward  true  salva- 
tion. Fresh  value  is  thus  added  to  human 
life.  The  modern  prophet,  employing  the 
methods  of  science,  may  again  proclaim 
that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 
Work  ye,  therefore,  early  and  late,  to  pre- 
pare its  coming. 


The  Message  of  Christianity. 

OW  what  is  this  message  of  the 
modern  prophet  but  pure  Chris- 
tianity ? — not  the  mass  of  theo- 
logical doctrine  ingeniously  piled  up  by 
Justin  Martyr  and  Tertullian  and  Clement 
and  Athanasius  and  Augustine,  but  the 
real  and  essential  Christianity  which  came, 
fraught  with  good  tidings  to  men,  from  the 
very  lips  of  Jesus  and  Paul!  When  did 
St.  Paul’s  conception  of  the  two  men  within 
him  that  warred  against  each  other,  the 
appetites  of  our  brute  nature  and  the  God- 
given  yearning  for  a higher  life,  — when 
did  this  grand  conception  ever  have  so 
much  significance  as  now  ? When  have 
we  ever  before  held  such  a clew  to  the 
meaning  of  Christ  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount?  “Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  105 

shall  inherit  the  earth.”  In  the  cruel  strife 
of  centuries  has  it  not  often  seemed  as  if 
the  earth  were  to  be  rather  the  prize  of  the 
hardest  heart  and  the  strongest  fist  ? To 
many  men  these  words  of  Christ  have  been 
as  foolishness  and  as  a stumbling-block, 
and  the  ethics  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
have  been  openly  derided  as  too  good  for 
this  world.  In  that  wonderful  picture  of 
modern  life  which  is  the  greatest  work  of 
one  of  the  great  seers  of  our  time,  Victor 
Hugo  gives  a concrete  illustration  of  the 
working  of  Christ’s  methods.  In  the  saint- 
like career  of  Bishop  Myriel,  and  in  the 
transformation  which  his  example  works  in 
the  character  of  the  hardened  outlaw  Jean 
Valjean,  we  have  a most  powerful  com- 
mentary on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
By  some  critics  who  could  express  their 
views  freely  about  “ Les  Miserables  ” while 
hesitating  to  impugn  directly  the  authority 
of  the  New  Testament,  Monseigneur  Bien- 
venu  was  unsparingly  ridiculed  as  a man  of 
impossible  goodness,  and  as  a milksop  and 


106  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

fool  withal.  But  I think  Victor  Hugo  un- 
derstood the  capabilities  of  human  nature, 
and  its  real  dignity,  much  better  than  these 
scoffers.  In  a low  stage  of  civilization 
Monseigneur  Bienvenu  would  have  had 
small  chance  of  reaching  middle  life. 
Christ  himself,  we  remember,  was  cruci- 
fied between  two  thieves.  It  is  none  the 
less  true  that  when  once  the  degree  of 
civilization  is  such  as  to  allow  this  high- 
est type  of  character,  distinguished  by  its 
meekness  and  kindness,  to  take  root  and 
thrive,  its  methods  are  incomparable  in 
their  potency.  The  Master  knew  full  well 
that  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe,  — that  he 
brought  not  peace,  but  a sword.  But  he 
preached  nevertheless  that  gospel  of  great 
joy  which  is  by  and  by  to  be  realized  by 
toiling  Humanity,  and  he  announced  ethi- 
cal principles  fit  for  the  time  that  is  com- 
ing. The  great  originality  of  his  teaching, 
and  the  feature  that  has  chiefly  given  it 
power  in  the  world,  lay  in  the  distinctness 
with  which  he  conceived  a state  of  society 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  ioj 

from  which  every  vestige  of  strife,  and  the 
modes  of  behaviour  adapted  to  ages  of 
strife,  shall  be  utterly  and  forever  swept 
away.  Through  misery  that  has  seemed 
unendurable  and  turmoil  that  has  seemed 
endless,  men  have  thought  on  that  gracious 
life  and  its  sublime  ideal,  and  have  taken 
comfort  in  the  sweetly  solemn  message  of 
peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men. 

I believe  that  the  promise  with  which  I 
started  has  now  been  amply  redeemed.  I 
believe  it  has  been  fully  shown  that  so  far 
from  degrading  Humanity,  or  putting  it  on 
a level  with  the  animal  world  in  general, 
the  doctrine  of  evolution  shows  us  dis- 
tinctly for  the  first  time  how  the  creation 
and  the  perfecting  of  Man  is  the  goal  to- 
ward which  Nature’s  work  has  been  tend- 
ing from  the  first.  We  can  now  see  clearly 
that  our  new  knowledge  enlarges  tenfold 
the  significance  of  human  life,  and  makes 
it  seem  more  than  ever  the  chief  object  of 
Divine  care,  the  consummate  fruition  of 
that  creative  energy  which  is  manifested 
throughout  the  knowable  universe. 


XVI. 


The  Question  as  to  a Future  Life. 


j|PON  the  question  whether  Hu- 
manity is,  after  all,  to  cast  in  its 
lot  with  the  grass  that  withers 
and  the  beasts  that  perish,  the  whole  fore- 
going argument  has  a bearing  that  is  by 
no  means  remote  or  far-fetched.  It  is  not 
likely  that  we  shall  ever  succeed  in  mak- 
ing the  immortality  of  the  soul  a matter  o / 
scientific  demonstration,  for  we  lack  the 
requisite  data.  It  must  ever  remain  an 
affair  of  religion  rather  than  of  science. 


In  other  words,  it  must  remain  one  of  that 
class  of  questions  upon  which  I may  not 
expect  to  convince  my  neighbour,  while  at 
the  same  time  I may  entertain  a reasonable 
conviction  of  my  own  upon  the  subject.16 
In  the  domain  of  cerebral  physiology  the 
question  might  be  debated  forever  without 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  109 

a result.  The  only  thing  which  cerebral 
physiology  tells  us,  when  studied  with  the 
aid  of  molecular  physics,  is  against  the 
materialist,  so  far  as  it  goes.  It  tells  us 
that,  during  the  present  life,  although 
thought  and  feeling  are  always  manifested 
in  connection  with  a peculiar  form  of  mat- 
ter, yet  by  no  possibility  can  thought  and 
feeling  be  in  any  sense  the  products  of 
piatter.  Nothing  could  be  more  grossly 
unscientific  than  the  famous  remark  of 
Cabanis,  that  the  brain  secretes  thought 
as  the  liver  secretes  bile.  It  is  not  even 
correct  to  say  that  thought  goes  on  in  the 
brain.  What  goes  on  in  the  brain  is  an 
amazingly  complex  series  of  molecular 
movements,  with  which  thought  and  feel- 
ing are  in  some  unknown  way  correlated, 
not  as  effects  or  as  causes,  but  as  con- 
comitants. So  much  is  clear,  but  cerebral 
physiology  says  nothing  about  another  life. 
Indeed,  why  should  it?  The  last  place  in 
the  world  to  which  I should  go  for  in- 
formation about  a state  of  things  in  which 


no  Tide  Destiny  of  Man. 

thought  and  feeling  can  exist  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a cerebrum  would  be  cerebral 
physiology ! 

The  materialistic  assumption  that  there 
is  no  such  state  of  things,  and  that  the  life 
of  the  soul  accordingly  ends  with  the  life 
of  the  body,  is  perhaps  the  most  colossal 
instance  of  baseless  assumption  that  is 
known  to  the  history  of  philosophy.  No 
evidence  for  it  can  be  alleged  beyond  the 
familiar  fact  that  during  the  present  life 
we  know  Soul  only  in  its  association  with 
Body,  and  therefore  cannot  discover  disem- 
bodied soul  without  dying  ourselves.  This 
fact  must  always  prevent  us  from  obtain- 
ing direct  evidence  for  the  belief  in  the 
soul’s  survival.  But  a negative  presump’ 
tion  is  not  created  by  the  absence  of  proof 
in  cases  where,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
proof  is  inaccessible.17  With  his  illegiti- 
mate hypothesis  of  annihilation,  the  mate- 
rialist transgresses  the  bounds  of  experi- 
ence quite  as  widely  as  the  poet  who  sings 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  with  its  river  of  life 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  in 

and  its  streets  of  gold.  Scientifically  speak- 
ing, there  is  not  a particle  of  evidence  for 
either  view. 

But  when  we  desist  from  the  futile  at- 
tempt to  introduce  scientific  demonstration 
into  a region  which  confessedly  transcends 
human  experience,  and  when  we  consider 
the  question  upon  broad  grounds  of  moral 
probability,  I have  no  doubt  that  men  will 
continue  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  to 
cherish  the  faith  in  a life  beyond  the  grave. 

In  past  times  the  disbelief  in  the  soul’s 
immortality  has  always  accompanied  that 
kind  of  philosophy  which,  under  whatever 
name,  has  regarded  Humanity  as  merely  l 
a local  incident  in  an  endless  and  aimless 
series  of  cosmical  changes.  As  a general 
rule,  people  who  have  come  to  take  such 
a view  of  the  position  of  Man  in  the  uni- 
verse have  ceased  to  believe  in  a future 
life.  On  the  other  hand,  he  who  regards 
Man  as  the  consummate  fruition  of  crea- 
tive energy,  and  the  chief  object  of  Divine 
care,  is  almost  irresistibly  driven  to  the  be- 


U2  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

lief  that  the  soul’s  career  is  not  completed 
with  the  present  life  upon  the  earth.  Diffi- 
culties on  theory  he  will  naturally  expect 
to  meet  in  many  quarters  ; but  these  will 
not  weaken  his  faith,  especially  when  he 
remembers  that  upon  the  alternative  view 
the  difficulties  are  at  least  as  great.  We 
live  in  a world  of  mystery,  at  all  events, 
and  there  is  not  a problem  in  the  simplest 
and  most  exact  departments  of  science 
which  does  not  speedily  lead  us  to  a tran- 
scendental problem  that  we  can  neither 
solve  nor  elude.  A broad  common-sense 
argument  has  often  to  be  called  in,  where 
keen-edged  metaphysical  analysis  has  con- 
fessed itself  baffled. 

Now  we  have  here  seen  that  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution  does  not  allow  us  to  take 
the  atheistic  view  of  the  position  of  Man. 
It  is  true  that  modern  astronomy  shows  us 
giant  balls  of  vapour  condensing  into  fiery 
suns,  cooling  down  into  planets  fit  for  the 
support  of  life,  and  at  last  growing  cold 
and  rigid  in  death,  like  the  moon.  And 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  113 

there  are  indications  of  a time  when  sys- 
tems of  dead  planets  shall  fall  in  upon 
their  central  ember  that  was  once  a sun, 
and  the  whole  lifeless  mass,  thus  regaining 
heat,  shall  expand  into  a nebulous  cloud 
like  that  with  which  we  started,  that  the 
work  of  condensation  and  evolution  may 
begin  over  again.  These  Titanic  events 
must  doubtless  seem  to  our  limited  vision 
like  an  endless  and  aimless  series  of 
cosmical  changes.  They  disclose  no  signs 
of  purpose,  or  even  of  dramatic  ten- 
dency ; 18  they  seem  like  the  weary  work 
of  Sisyphos.  But  on  the  face  of  our  own 
planet,  where  alone  we  are  able  to  survey 
the  process  of  evolution  in  its  higher  and 
more  complex  details,  we  do  find  distinct 
indications  of  a dramatic  tendency,  though 
doubtless  not  of  purpose  in  the  limited 
human  sense.  The  Darwinian  theory, 
properly  understood,  replaces  as  much 
Igleology 19  as  it  destroys.  From  the  first 
dawning  of  life  we  see  all  things  work- 
ing together  toward  one  mighty  goal,  the 
8 


1 14  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

evolution  of  the  most  exalted  spiritual  qual- 
ities which  characterize  Humanity.  The 
body  is  cast  aside  and  returns  to  the  dust 
of  which  it  was  made.  The  earth,  so 
marvellously  wrought  to  man’s  uses,  will 
also  be  cast  aside.  The  day  is  to  come, 
no  doubt,  when  the  heavens  shall  vanish 
as  a scroll,  and  the  elements  be  melted 
with  fervent  heat.  So  small  is  the  value 
which  Nature  sets  upon  the  perishable 
forms  of  matter  ! The  question,  then,  is 
reduced  to  this  : are  Man’s  highest  spirit- 
ual qualities,  into  the  production  of  which 
all  this  creative  energy  has  gone,  to  dis- 
appear with  the  rest  ? Has  all  this  work 
been  done  for  nothing  ? Is  it  all  ephem- 
eral, all  a bubble  that  bursts,  a vision 
that  fades  ? Are  we  to  regard  the  Crea- 
tor’s work  as  like  that  of  a child,  who 
builds  houses  out  of  blocks,  just  for  the 
pleasure  of  knocking  them  down  ? For 
aught  that  science  can  tell  us,  it  may  be 
so,  but  I can  see  no  good  reason  for  be- 
lieving any  such  thing.  On  such  a view 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  115 

the  riddle  of  the  universe  becomes  a riddle  ^ 
without  a meaning.  Why,  then,  are  we  any 
more  called  upon  to  throw  away  our  belief 
in  the  permanence  of  the  spiritual  element 
in  Man  than  we  are  called  upon  to  throw 
away  our  belief  in  the  constancy  of  Na- 
ture ? When  questioned  as  to  the  ground 
of  our  irresistible  belief  that  like  causes 
must  always  be  followed  by  like  effects, 

Mr.  Mill’s  answer  was  that  it  is  the  result 
of  an  induction  coextensive  with  the  whole 
of  our  experience  ; Mr.  Spencer’s  answer 
was  that  it  is  a postulate  which  we  make 
in  every  act  of  experience ; 20  but  the  au- 
thors of  the  “ Unseen  Universe,”  slightly 
varying  the  form  of  statement,  called  it  a 
supreme  act  of  faith,  — the  expression  of 
a trust  in  God,  that  He  will  not  “ put  us  to 
permanent  intellectual  confusion.”  Now 
the  more  thoroughly  we  comprehend  that 
process  of  evolution  by  which  things  have 
come  to  be  what  they  are,  the  more  we  are 
likely  to  feel  that  to  deny  the  everlasting 
persistence  of  the  spiritual  element  in  Man 


n6  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

is  to  rob  the  whole  process  of  its  meaning. 
It  goes  far  toward  putting  us  to  perma- 
nent intellectual  confusion,  and  I do  not 
see  that  any  one  has  as  yet  alleged,  or  is 
ever  likely  to  allege,  a sufficient  reason 
for  our  accepting  so  dire  an  alternative. 

For  my  own  part,  therefore,  I believe  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  not  in  the 
sense  in  which  I accept  the  demonstrable 
truths  of  science,  but  as  a supreme  act  of 
faith  in  the  reasonableness  of  God’s  work. 
Such  a belief,  relating  to  regions  quite  in- 
accessible to  experience,  cannot  of  course 
be  clothed  in  terms  of  definite  and  tangible 
meaning.  For  the  experience  which  alone 
can  give  us  such  terms  we  must  await  that 
solemn  day  which  is  to  overtake  us  all. 
The  belief  can  be  most  quickly  defined  by 
its  negation,  as  the  refusal  to  believe  that 
this  world  is  all.  The  materialist  holds 
that  when  you  have  described  the  whole 
universe  of  phenomena  of  which  we  can 
become  cognizant  under  the  conditions  of 
the  present  life,  then  the  whole  story  is 


The  Destiny  of  Man.  ny 

told.  It  seems  to  me,  on  the  contrary,  that 
the  whole  story  is  not  thus  told.  I feel 
the  omnipresence  of  mystery  in  such  wise 
as  to  make  it  far  easier  for  me  to  adopt  the 
view  of  Euripides,  that  what  we  call  death 
may  be  but  the  dawning  of  true  knowledge 
and  of  true  life.  The  greatest  philosopher 
of  modern  times,  the  master  and  teacher 
of  all  who  shall  study  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion for  many  a day  to  come,  holds  that 
the  conscious  soul  is  not  the  product  of  a 
collocation  of  material  particles,  but  is  in 
the  deepest  sense  a divine  effluence.  Ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Spencer,  the  divine  energy 
which  is  manifested  throughout  the  know- 
able  universe  is  the  same  energy  that  wells 
up  in  us  as  consciousness.  Speaking  for 
myself,  I can  see  no  insuperable  difficulty 
in  the  notion  that  at  some  period  in  the 
evolution  of  Humanity  this  divine  spark 
may  have  acquired  sufficient  concentration 
and  steadiness  to  survive  the  wreck  of  ma- 
terial forms  and  endure  forever.  Such  a 
crowning  wonder  seems  to  me  no  more 


/ 1 8 The  Destiny  of  Man. 

than  the  fit  climax  to  a creative  work  that 
has  been  ineffably  beautiful  and  marvel- 
lous in  all  its  myriad  stages. 

Only  on  some  such  view  can  the  rea- 
sonableness of  the  universe,  which  still 
remains  far  above  our  finite  power  of  com- 
prehension, maintain  its  ground.  There 
are  some  minds  inaccessible  to  the  class 
of  considerations  here  alleged,  and  perhaps 
there  always  will  be.  But  on  such  grounds, 
if  on  no  other,  the  faith  in  immortality  is 
likely  to  be  shared  by  all  who  look  upon 
the  genesis  of  the  highest  spiritual  quali- 
ties in  Man  as  the  goal  of  Nature’s  creative 
work.  This  view  has  survived  the  Coper- 
nican  revolution  in  science,  and  it  has  sur- 
vived the  Darwinian  revolution.  Nay,  if 
the  foregoing  exposition  be  sound,  it  is 
Darwinism  which  has  placed  Humanity 
upon  a higher  pinnacle  than  ever.  The 
future  is  lighted  for  us  with  the  radiant 
colours  of  hope.  Strife  and  sorrow  shall 
disappear.  Peace  and  love  shall  reign  su- 
preme. The  dream  of  poets,  the  lesson 


The  Destiny  of  Man  i ig 

of  priest  and  prophet,  the  inspiration  of  the 
great  musician,  is  confirmed  in  the  light  of 
modern  knowledge  ; and  as  we  gird  our- 
selves up  for  the  work  of  life,  we  may  look 
forward  to  the  time  when  in  the  truest 
sense  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  be- 
come the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  he  shall 
reign  for  ever  and  ever,  king  of  kings  and 
lord  of  lords. 


REFERENCES. 


C.  P.,  Outlines  of  Cosmic  Philosophy,  1874;  U.  W.,  The  Unseen 
World,  1876;  D.,  Darwinism  and  Other  Essays,  1879;  E.  E, 
Excursions  of  an  Evolutionist,  1884. 

1.  C.  P.  ii.  432-451. 

2.  C.  P.  ii.  89-91. 

3.  C.  P.  ii.  318-321 ; D.  45. 

4.  U.  W.  40-42;  D.  65-74;  E.  E.  278-282,  327 

336- 

5.  C.  P.  ii.  154-159- 

6.  C.  P.  ii.  I33-I35- 

7.  D.  45-48;  E.  E.  306-319. 

8.  C.  P.  ii.  310. 

9.  E.  E.  109-146. 

10.  C.  P.  ii.  284-323. 

11.  C.  P.  ii.  342-346,  358-363- 

12.  C.  P.  ii.  202-208. 

13.  C.  P.  ii.  213-224. 

14.  C.  P.  ii.  334. 

15.  C.  P.  ii.  31 2-315. 

16.  U.  W.  54;  E.  E.  289-291. 


References.  121 

17.  U.  W.  47-5°;  D-  75- 

18.  D.  96-102. 

19.  C.  P.  ii.  406. 

20.  C.  P.  i.  45-71,  286;  ii.  162;  U.  W.  6;  D.  87- 

95- 


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A book  brilliant  and  effective  beyond  measure.  ...  It  is  a 
statement  that  every  child  can  comprehend,  but  that  only  a 
man  of  consummate  genius  could  have  written.  — Mrs.  Caro- 
line H.  Dall,  in  the  Springfield  Republican. 

The  story  of  the  Revolution,  as  Mr.  Fiske  tells  it,  is  one  of 
surpassing  interest.  Flis  treatment  is  a marvel  of  clearness 
and  comprehensiveness ; discarding  non-essential  details,  he 
selects  with  a fine  historic  instinct  the  main  currents  of  history, 
traces  them  with  the  utmost  precision,  and  tells  the  whole 
story  in  a masterly  fashion.  His  little  volume  will  be  a text- 
book for  older  quite  as  much  as  for  young  readers.  — Chris- 
tian Unioji  (New  York). 

OUTLINES  OF  COSMIC  PHILOSOPHY 

Based  on  the  Doctrine  of  Evolution,  with  Criticisms  on 
the  Positive  Philosophy.  In  two  volumes.  8vo,  $6.00. 
“ You  must  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the  very  great  inter- 
est with  which  I have  at  last  slowly  read  the  whole  of  your 


work.  ...  I never  in  my  life  read  so  lucid  an  expositor  (and 
therefore  thinker)  as  you  are;  and  I think  that  I understand 
nearly  the  whole,  though  perhaps  less  clearly  about  cosmic 
theism  and  causation  than  other  parts.  It  is  hopeless  to  at- 
tempt out  of  so  much  to  specify  what  has  interested  me  most, 
and  probably  you  would  not  care  to  hear.  It  pleased  me  to 
find  that  here  and  there  I had  arrived,  from  my  own  crude 
thoughts,  at  some  of  the  same  conclusions  with  you,  though  I 
could  seldom  or  never  have  given  my  reasons  for  such  con- 
clusions.” — Charles  Darwin. 

This  work  of  Mr.  Fiske’s  may  be  not  unfairly  designated 
the  most  important  contribution  yet  made  by  America  to 
philosophical  literature. — The  Academy  (London). 

DARWINISM,  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS. 

127)10 , $2.00. 

If  ever  there  was  a spirit  thoroughly  invigorated  by  the 
“joy  of  right  understanding  ” it  is  that  of  the  author  of  these 
pieces.  Even  the  reader  catches  something  of  his  intellec- 
tual buoyancy,  and  is  thus  carried  almost  lightly  through  dis- 
cussions which  would  be  hard  and  dry  in  the  hands  of  a less 
animated  writer.  ...  No  less  confident  and  serene  than  his 
acceptance  of  the  utmost  logical  results  of  recent  scientific 
discovery  is  Mr.  Fiske’s  assurance  that  the  foundations  of 
spiritual  truths,  so  called,  cannot  possibly  be  shaken  thereby. 

— The  Atlantic  Monthly  (Boston). 

THE  UNSEEN  WORLD, 

A nd  Other  Essays.  i2mo,  $2.00. 

To  each  study  the  writer  seems  to  have  brought,  besides 
an  excellent  quality  of  discriminating  judgment,  full  and  fresh 
special  knowledge,  that  enables  him  to  supply  much  informa- 
tion on  the  subject,  whatever  it  may  be,  that  is  not  to  be  found 
in  the  volume  he  is  noticing.  To  the  knowledge,  analytical 
power,  and  faculty  of  clear  statement,  that  appear  in  all  these 
papers,  Mr.  Fiske  adds  a just  independence  of  thought  that 
conciliates  respectful  consideration  of  his  views,  even  when 
they  are  most  at  variance  with  the  commonly  accepted  ones. 

— Boston  Advertiser. 

EXCURSIONS  OF  AN  EVOLUTIONIST. 

i2mo , $2.00. 

Among  our  thoughtful  essayists  there  are  none  more  bril- 
liant than  Mr.  John  Fiske.  His  pure  style  suits  his  clear 
thought.  He  does  not  write  unless  he  has  something  to  say; 
and  when  he  does  write  he  shows  not  only  that  he  has  thor- 
oughly acquainted  himself  with  the  subject,  but  that  he  has 


to  a rare  degree  the  art  of  so  massing  his  matter  as  to  bring  out 
the  true  value  of  the  leading  points  in  artistic  relief.  It  is 
this  perspective  which  makes  his  work  such  agreeable  read- 
ing even  on  abstruse  subjects,  and  has  enabled  him  to  play 
the  same  part  in  popularizing  Spencer  in  this  country  that 
Littre  performed  for  Comte  in  France,  and  Dumont  for  Ben- 
tham  in  England.  The  same  qualities  appear  to  good  ad- 
vantage in  his  new  volume,  which  contains  his  later  essays  on 
his  favorite  subject  of  evolution.  . . . They  are  well  worth 
reperusal. — The  Nation  (New  York). 

MYTHS  AND  MYTH-MAKERS. 

Old  Tales  and  Superstitions  interpreted  by  Compara- 
tive Mythology.  i2?no,  $2.00. 

Mr.  Fiske  has  given  us  a book  which  is  at  once  sensible  and 
attractive,  on  a subject  about  which  much  is  written  that  is 
crotchety  or  tedious.  — W.  R.  S.  Ralston,  in  Alhenceum 
(London). 

A perusal  of  this  thorough  work  cannot  be  too  strongly 
recommended  to  all  who  are  interested  in  comparative  my- 
thology.— Revue  Critique  (Paris). 

THE  DESTINY  OF  MAN, 

Viewed  in  the  Light  of  his  Origin.  i6mo,gilt  top , $1.00. 

Mr.  Fiske  has  given  us  in  his  “ Destiny  of  Man  ” a most 
attractive  condensation  of  his  views  as  expressed  in  his  va- 
rious other  works.  One  is  charmed  by  the  directness  and 
clearness  of  his  style,  his  simple  and  pure  English,  and  his 
evident  knowledge  of  his  subject.  ...  Of  one  thing  we  may  be 
sure,  that  none  are  leading  us  more  surely  or  rapidly  to  the 
full  truth  than  men  like  the  author  of  this  little  book,  who 
reverently  study  the  works  of  God  for  the  lessons  which  he 
would  teach  his  children. — Christian  Union  (New  York). 

THE  IDEA  OF  GOD, 

As  A fpected  by  Modern  Knowledge.  i6tno , gilt  top , $1.00. 

The  charms  of  John  Fiske’s  style  are  patent.  The  secrets 
of  its  fluency,  clearness,  and  beauty  are  secrets  which  many 
a maker  of  literary  stuffs  has  attempted  to  unravel,  in  order 
to  weave  like  cloth-of-gold.  ...  A model  for  authors  and  a 
delight  to  readers. — The  Critic  (New  York). 

***  For  sale  by  all  Booksellers.  Sent  by  mail , postpaid , on 
receipt  of  price  by  the  Publishers , 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  & CO. 

4 Park  Street,  Boston j //  East  ipth  Street,  New  York. 


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